While many of you might be planning for a new Raspberry Pi, the open source community has received BeagleBone Blue as a new surprise to upgrade the evolving world of Internet of Things (IoT). The new developer board comes at a price of $79.95 that is sufficient to build a new robot or drone.
BeagleBone Blue has all the major components that you need to build intelligent robotic machines. There is an energy-efficient System-In-Package (SiP) from Octavo Systems. The chip has a TI AM3358 processor, accompanied by 512MB of RAM and 4GB of 8-bit storage. Also, the board has a two-cell lithium-polymer battery support.
For enabling robotics development, the new BeagleBone version has motor controls for 8.6V servo and 4 DC motors. There is also a built-in nine-axis IMU and barometer as well as connect interfaces for GPS, DSM2 radio, UARTs, SPI and LEDs. Besides, the board has wireless connectivity such as 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1.
You are free to use any of your favourite Linux version on the newly arrived BeagleBone Blue. However, there is official support for Debian and ROS. The board also supports Ardupilot that can help you design your drone.
BeagleBone Blue is not likely to be a futuristic board for advanced IoT offerings. Nevertheless, it seems to make the present of robots and drones brighter with the latest components.
You can customise the experience on BeagleBone Blue by reaching its schematics. The open source access also makes the board highly optimised for educational machines. Students can get what all they want to learn from the Blue-powered robotics.
