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BeagleBone Robotic Projects

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BeagleBone Robotic Projects

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Buy this Book

Overview of this book

BeagleBone Blue is effectively a small, light, cheap computer in a similar vein to Raspberry Pi and Arduino. It has all of the extensibility of today’s desktop machines, but without the bulk, expense, or noise. This project guide provides step-by-step instructions that enable anyone to use this new, low-cost platform in some fascinating robotics projects. By the time you are finished, your projects will be able to see, speak, listen, detect their surroundings, and move in a variety of amazing ways. The book begins with unpacking and powering up the components. This includes guidance on what to purchase and how to connect it all successfully, and a primer on programming the BeagleBone Blue. You will add additional software functionality available from the open source community, including making the system see using a webcam, hear using a microphone, and speak using a speaker. You will then learn to use the new hardware capability of the BeagleBone Blue to make your robots move, as well as discover how to add sonar sensors to avoid or find objects. Later, you will learn to remotely control your robot through iOS and Android devices. At the end of this book, you will see how to integrate all of these functionalities to work together, before developing the most impressive robotics projects: Drone and Submarine.

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

Getting Started with the BeagleBone Blue

Powering up and connecting to the BeagleBone Blue

Accessing the operating system

Accessing the BeagleBone Blue remotely via WLAN

Summary

Programming the BeagleBone Blue

Basic Linux commands showing how to navigate around the filesystem on the BeagleBone Blue

Creating, editing, and saving files on the BeagleBone Blue

Creating and running Python programs on the BeagleBone Blue

Some basic programming constructs on the BeagleBone Blue

A brief introduction to the C programming language

Summary

Making the Unit Mobile - Controlling Wheeled Movement

Getting started

Controlling your mobile platform programmatically using the BeagleBone Blue

Accessing the compass on the BeagleBone Blue

Summary

Avoiding Obstacles Using Sensors

Different types of sensors used

Connecting a sonar sensor to an Arduino

Creating an array of sensors

Dynamic path planning with your mobile platform

Summary

Allowing Our BeagleBone Blue to See

Connecting your USB camera to your BeagleBone Blue and viewing the images

Downloading and installing OpenCV, a fully featured vision library

Using the vision library to detect colored objects

Summary

Providing Speech Input and Output

Hardware prerequisites

Connecting the hardware and making an input sound

Using eSpeak to allow our projects to respond in a robot voice

Using Pocketsphinx to interpret your voice commands

Providing the capability to interpret your commands and have your robot initiate action

Summary

Making the Unit Very Mobile - Controlling Legged Movement

Connecting the BeagleBone Blue to your mobile platform

Creating a Linux program to control your mobile platform

Making your mobile platform truly mobile by issuing voice commands

Using a GPS Receiver to Locate Your Robot

Connecting the BeagleBone Blue to a GPS device

Accessing the GPS programmatically and determining how to move to a location

Summary

By Land, By Sea, By Air

The BeagleBone Blue and robots that can sail

BeagleBone Blue and robots that can fly

The BeagleBone Blue in robots that can go under the water

Summary

System Dynamics

Controlling your robot via a game pad controller

Controlling your robot via a web interface

Summary

Customer Reviews

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Connecting a sonar sensor to an Arduino

Here is a picture of a sonar sensor, the HC-SR04, an extremely inexpensive sensor that works well in these sorts of situations:

These sonar sensors are available at most online electronics stores, including amazon.com. There are ways to connect this sensor directly to the BeagleBone Blue; however, there are two disadvantages to this approach. First, you'd need to learn the Programmable Real-Time Unit (PRU) process for BeagleBone Blue development. These sensors need specifically timed pulses, and the PRU system would allow you to create them. Also, since you're going to use multiple sensors to look around your mobile platform, you would need a significant number of General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) connectors.

For these reasons, you're going to a use a simple and inexpensive processor, an Arduino, to connect to the sensors...