My goal is to basically build a small (~200lb) robotic front-end loader capable of doing automated or semi-automated yard work. A micro turbine will power a hydraulic pump that will power the loader. Another person is designing most of the mechanical side. Its my job to design most of the electronic side.
I have 8 years of experience in C++ and I have dabbled in many other languages like assembly, PHP, BASIC, etc. So I feel very comfortable with the programming side of it. What I have no experience with is electronics. I have no illusion that I'm going to be able to put it together overnight or that anyone will design it for me. I have a few questions though and I would appreciate any answers.
1. I'm going to have to learn about electronics and digital electronics. What are some good learning resources for especially as it applies to robotics?
2. Its complex enough that the brains will probably have to be an old laptop. I saw some boards that can be used to interface a laptop to IO devices via USB. So far I count 4 inputs and 7 outputs. I know I will need at least a couple more inputs, because I don't know how I'm going to get the navigation to work exactly. The only problem I see is most of the chips I found don't have that many pins. Any critiques or suggestions on what I have there?
3. The loader will run exclusively in a five acre area. I was thinking the best system for navigation would be if you could have beacons placed in the area that the robot could use to calculate its position. At times it may have to get within 6 inches of certain objects and GPS by itself would probably not be accurate enough. I will probably need sonic rangefinders so that it can avoid dynamic objects that can't be mapped out like animals and vehicles. Is there anything available commercially for beacons or would GPS and sonic detectors be the best route to go?
Thanks for any input.