[Jeff McCune]

We're using 4 shaft encoder "sensors" to sense the rotation of our motors before and after the transmission, as well as a sensor for direction. We'll probably add some basic bump sensors into that list.

This is all for the 15 second autonomous mode, with the exception of 2 of the shaft encoders, which we need for our transmission to work properly.

All these sensors are going to be multiplexed into an external PIC or microcontroller that will feed the data on-demand to the Robot Controller. We're using 2 PWM lines as an address bus from the RC to the external PIC.

It all depends on what you're trying to do with the 15 seconds you're given. We're trying to do a lot, so as a result our program needs to "know" a lot about it's surroundings and environment.

Just remember, robotics isn't a horribly new field. There's probably a sensor out there for what you're trying to do, and there's probably a way to interface it to the Robot Controller. It's just a matter of if it's worth the time.

Cheers,
Jeff McCune