PowerBar installed (via Andice Labs)
If you've ever thought of designing a BeagleBone-based vigilante robot that fights crime in the rural Mojave Desert using only battery power, now you can with Andice Lab's PowerBar. The PowerBar was designed exclusively for the BeagleBone open hardware computer and enables it to function fully on DC, or battery, power. Portability is inspiring.
PowerBar attached to BeagleBone (via Andice Labs)
The PowerBar is a "micro cape" power supply that provides the low-power BeagleBone (SBC) computer with enough energy to run from anywhere, even in outer space (cue Twilight Zone theme song). The battery pack runs 5V of energy to the computer and even offers 15V over-voltage protection and reverse-voltage protection to protect against surges. It's a simple power pack that works for both BeagleBone White and Black.
BeagleBone White (via BeagleBoard)
BeagleBoard's BeagleBone is a single board computer based on Linux that runs Android and Ubuntu. The White version comes equipped with an AM335x 720MHz ARM processor, 256MB DDR2 RAM, 3D graphics chip, ARM Cortex-M3 and 2 PRU 32-bit RISC CPU's. BeagleBone Black was made with developers in mind and features double the power, with 512 DDR2 RAM, 4GB 8-bit built-in EMMC flash memory and a NEON point accelerator. Both computers offer USB, Ethernet and HDMI connectivity. It also runs Cloud9 IDE and Debian. What makes it unique is its open hardware design.
BeagleBone Black (via BeagleBone)
Open hardware designs take open-source to a whole new level. Not only are software platforms completely open to developers, but designs are too. That means you can buy a BeagleBone Black, or you can go directly to the BeagleBoard website and find the instructions for building your very own. Open hardware is developed for the love of innovation and raising up the next generation of tinkerers. My only critique of this cape is that I could do the same with an external cell-phone battery backup. Countless battery bricks out there too.
The development of the PowerBar now allows us to take our innovations on-the-go. Now remote locations all over the world can still gain access to the unscripted power of BeagleBone. If you take the lead from one tinkerer, you can power your very own brewery using the mini computer. Even the pirates in the Mojave Desert would raise a glass to that.
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