BeagleBone: Creative Projects for Hobbyists
About this ebook
This Learning Path is aimed at hobbyists who want to do creative projects that make their life easier and also push the boundaries of what can be done with the BeagleBone Black. This Learning Path's projects are for the aspiring maker, casual programmer, and budding engineer or tinkerer. You'll need some programming knowledge, and experience of working with mechanical systems to get the complete experience from this Learning Path.
What You Will LearnSet up and run the BeagleBone Black for the first timeGet to know the basics of microcomputing and Linux using the command line and easy kernel modsDevelop a simple web interface with a LAMP platformPrepare complex web interfaces in JavaScript and get to know how to stream video data from a webcamFind out how to use a GPS to determine where your sailboat is, and then get the bearing and distance to a new waypointUse a wind sensor to sail your boat effectively both with and against the windBuild an underwater ROV to explore the underwater worldSee how to build an autonomous QuadcopterIn DetailBeagleBone is a microboard PC that runs Linux. It can connect to the Internet and run OSes such as Android and Ubuntu. You can transform this tiny device into a brain for an embedded application or an endless variety of electronic inventions and prototypes.
This Learning Path starts off by teaching you how to program the BeagleBone. You will create introductory projects to get yourselves acquainted with all the nitty gritty. Then we'll focus on a series of projects that are aimed at hobbyists like you and encompass the areas of home automation and robotics. With each project, we'll teach you how to connect several sensors and an actuator to the BeagleBone Black. We'll also create robots for land, sea, and water. Yes, really!
The books used in this Learning Path are:
BeagleBone Black CookbookBeagleBone Home Automation BlueprintsMastering BeagleBone RoboticsStyle and approachThis practical guide transforms complex and confusing pieces of technology to become accessible with easy- to-succeed instructions. Through clear, concise examples, you will quickly get to grips with the core concepts needed to develop home automation applications with the BeagleBone Black.
About the author
Charles Hamilton is the owner of HudsonWerks, a New York City-based DIY hardware and new product development shop. Passionate about emerging technologies, open source hardware, and the maker movement, his background as a "technology creative", entrepreneur, and maker provides readers with a unique perspective. Besides BeagleBone Black, Charles works frequently with other hardware platforms, including the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, UDOO, Intel Edison, and Dragonboard development boards, open source board architecture and PCB design, micromechatronics, and sensors. He is also an advocate and keen user of emerging low-cost manufacturing and design tools such as 3-D printers and laser cutters. Among other subjects, Charles keenly follows advances and design challenges in the arenas of IoT, space technologies, and next-generation health and wellness devices. He writes and blogs at hudsonwerks. He is a former creative director at AT&T and product developer at a New York City-based new product development agency. Charles' development expertise spans devices in the consumer electronics, digital media, display, voice recognition, healthcare, and telecommunication markets. He is also a proud papa to his 4-year-old son, Hudson.
Rodolfo Giometti is an engineer, IT specialist, and GNU/Linux expert. He has over 15 years of experience working with platforms based on x86 (PC), ARM, MIPS, and PowerPC. He is the first author and a maintainer of the LinuxPPS project (Linux's pulse per second subsystem.) He actively contributes to the Linux source code with several patches and new device drivers for several devices. His areas of core expertise are in writing device drivers for new peripherals, realizing special Linux ports for several custom embedded boards, and developing control automation and remote monitoring systems. He is the cofounder of the Cosino Project, where he develops software for industry control automation systems. He is also the co-CEO at HCE Engineering S.r.l., a leading industrial embedded systems-based company.
Richard Grimmett has more fun that should be allowed working on robotics projects while teaching Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Brigham Young University Idaho. He has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Leadership Studies. He also has 26 years of experience in the Radar and Telecommunications industries, and even has one of the original brick phones. He has written books on the basics of using the BeagleBone Black for robotics projects, and another for the Raspberry PI and yet another for the Arduino.
