When talking to people about fun electronics projects, it has come to people's surprise that I have yet to do anything with an Arduino. It is the platform of choice for introduction to hardware computing and how many people got started in this hobby, but for one reason or another I never went through that phase.

Generally, if I need something with computing power or network connectivity, I use a Raspberry Pi 3. If I need low-level control over precision timing, I use a PIC. Sometimes those two are paired up, like our VFD driver board project. An Arduino's capabilities fit in between those two platforms, but as I already have proficiency in coding for a Pi and for a PIC, it doesn't leave much motivation for me to learn Arduino. But it's something I kept in mind, expecting that one day an Arduino's beginner friendliness will be an asset for me to build a project with one.

That opportunity has surfaced!

backyard sawppy 1600

As I took Sawppy around to various events, I had many opportunities to talk with people who show interest in a DIY motorized Mars rover model. My own personal ambition is to make Sawppy autonomous, but not everyone shares that goal. I learned that many people would be content with a remote controlled rover. Furthermore, I've seen a lot of interest in parents who wanted to gauge if Sawppy is a good project to build with their children. And in this scenario, my SGVHAK rover software running on a Raspberry Pi is far more complex than strictly necessary.

For this audience, a simple Arduino-based rover control system would fit a niche separate from that of a Raspberry Pi rover control scheme. It will be less powerful, but will also be lower cost and more approachable as a learning exercise for beginners.

So for the sake of making Sawppy more accessible to everyone, I'm going to start investigation into an Arduino-based control scheme.