The BeagleBone Black and robots that can sail

Now that you've discovered that the BeagleBone Black can guide platforms that can move on land, let's turn to a completely different type of mobile platform, one that can sail. In this section, you'll discover how to add the BeagleBone Black to a sailing platform and utilize it to control your sailboat.

Building the sailboat platform

Fortunately, sailing in water is about as simple as walking on land. First, however, you need a sailing platform. Here is an image of an RC sailing platform that can be modified to accept control from the BeagleBone Black:

In fact, many RC controller boats can be modified to add the BeagleBone Black. All you need is space to put the processor, the battery, and any additional control circuitry that you might need. In this case, the sailing platform has basically two controls: a rudder that is controlled by a servo and a second servo that controls the position of the sail. These are shown here:

You'll use your BeagleBone...