Thanks for the feedback.
I consulted with our research mentor and the route he wants to take is to purchase an PIC18Fxxx series chip that will work with the Microchip compiler, along with an evaluation/proto board and program it to collect our data and pass it on to the RC.
I just emailed several links to our mentor for review; he's away today but I should hear back from him tomorrow. My partner and I were thinking of a PIC18F452 since the company that makes the ultrasonic rangefinder provides that as an example system on their website, along with some sample code.
Here is the info on that chip:
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/id...ame =en010296
Microchip offers a demo board with that chip built in and prototyping space for $100, so that is one potential choice:
http://microchip.com/stellent/idcplg...&part=DM163022
Another choice would be to buy a blank proto-board and a standalone chip and do the rest ourselves:
http://www.cippsites.com/Merchant4/m...re_Code=melabs
http://www.cippsites.com/Merchant4/m...re_Code=melabs
On a side note, here are a couple pictures of what we are working on:
Robot
Ultrasonic Sensor