Got the arduino board in today

Well UPS came by at 4pm finally, waitied around all day for the delivery. Got the board out, installed the drivers, and did my first 'sketch'. Tinkered with it quite a bit. It did provoke a few thoughts, such as how to save data? Only a computer that is easy, you just make a file, but the AVR doesn't seem to have a system for that. I'm going to frys tomorrow to get parts for the L293, the 38mhz oscillator circuit and some pull down resisters for the bumpers. May get a few sharp sensors if they have them and some IR LEDs too, I need to start working on the body now that a few parts are available for size purposes.

In possession:

Tracked Bulldozer Body
AtMega328 (yay!)

End of August goal:

Get the AtMega328 mounted into the modified tracked drive

End of September goal:

Get both motors and all sensors operational

I will post a full progress report once a week

Rummaging today

Tomorrow is the big day, I got out my multimeter, got together a few other tools as well. Will need to purchase a better soldering iron though. I've made a few drafts on the changes in the body, but will wait to do most of the changes till I have the sensors and such. I've not been able to find sharp modules, but I've been able to find IR Detector modules that detect IR at 38mhz. Not sure if I want to use a PWM pin to drive the modules or just make a circuit to do it. Either one presents challenges. One hand, don't have to worry about if the MCU is working and there one more pin to play with and on the other hand, a few lines of code handle and it can be changed much eaiser. One way it can be tinkered with, the other way, when you are done, you are done and time to go on to other things.

Not doing the list today, but tomorrow is a big day. I will have the brain for the body, just have to integrate the two. Btw, 9volt batteries are expensive, almost $20 apiece.

Definitely committed now, wish me luck!!