Preface

The world we live in today is bursting with new possibilities, all made possible by new technology. Cell phones and personal computers, once the cutting edge of technology, are now a standard part of our lives. Self-driving cars, robotic vacuum cleaners, and software that can predict our shopping patterns are moving from the world of science fiction to the world of our everyday lives.

Much of this new technology is fueled by small and inexpensive but powerful processors that are not only easy to program, but are surrounded by a universe of inexpensive hardware that expands their capabilities to areas that only a few years ago weren't even in the realm of imagination. This book covers one flavor of this technology, the BeagleBone Blue. This processor embodies the next generation of do-it-yourself processors: it not only has the processing capability, but also incorporates much of the necessary surrounding support hardware in a single board.

This book will take you through a number of different projects that will show you how to take full advantage of the BeagleBone Blue. These projects include robots that roll, walk, fly, and sail. In each case, you'll learn how to use the full power of the BeagleBone Blue to create projects that would have required thousands of dollars of hardware just a few years ago.

So grab your BeagleBone Blue, and let's go!