Building an automated sailing platform
Certainly, one of the most impressive ways to navigate the waters is in a sailing vessel. Let's start with an RC sailboat. These are available at many hobby stores, either retail or online. The following is an image of one such platform:
This sailboat is ready to sail via radio control. This means that it has two servos mounted inside: one to control the sail and the other to control the rudder. The following is an image of these two servos that are connected to the sail and rudder:
In order for your sailboat to sail itself, it will need several key capabilities. First, it should be able to control the servos; you'll use the techniques you learned in Chapter 7, Controlling Servos with Arduino, to move the rudder and trim the sails. You might want to add the GPS capability that you discovered in Chapter 11, Using a GPS Device with Arduino. You will want to control the system without a wired connection, so you can use the principles that you learned in...