Underwater ROV Arduino assistence please.

I am participating ( with other students ) in a highschool level underwater rov competition, i would LIKE to use arduino to control the robot.

BUT ive never done something like this before

what id like to know is besides the Arduino board ( not sure if Uno would work or if Mega would be necessary ) what kind of compnents would be necassary 

Like would the arduino be controlling the motors directly or would it control something to turn on/off the motors? as the motors run on higher voltages then the arduino does

and what would the control side of it be like? i would LIKE to have a basic joystick  (2 axis, nothing fancy) and a few buttons but would that require a specific shield or something more complex?

You will need motor controllers to run the motors. The Arduino will signal the controllers to turn on/off and speed up or slow down. As for which motor controller to get.. that will depend on the number and type of motors you plan to use.

The control side is up to you. However you want to lay it out and connect the buttons to the Arduino will be up to you. As long as you get the Arduino programmed right to take the information provided through the controls and pass it on to the motors.

I would suggest looking at all options not just the arduino. Check out the various ROV instructables to get some ideas of how to get things working. Even check out the Robot instructables.
shabaki (author)  mpilchfamily2 years ago
Thanks, but also do you think i would be looking at needind any specific shileds? or could i run it all off an uno?
Weather you need the Uno or the Mega will depend on what all you will be needing to connect to it. If you need more then 13 to 19 IO ports then the Mega may be a better option for you.

Everything your wanting to do isn't available on a single shield. In fact it may be worth creating your own shield to give yourself a good clean connection to the Arduino. Rather then having various wires sticking out of the headers.
shabaki (author)  mpilchfamily2 years ago
Thanks, this clears up a lot