[DonRotolo]

You can also set up boundaries, for example if you don't want the robot to leave your backyard. This could be as simple as a buried wire with low-power radio frequencies on it (kind of like those invisible fence thingies for pets), or a simple colored border (think a piece of tape), to an infra-red light beam that cannot be crossed (like a Roomba virtual wall).

Better still would be to give your outdoor vehicle a purpose. Here in the northeast, picking up sticks or leaves from the trees is one choice. Maybe yours can harass the local fauna, or act as a watch-bot.

For cross-country navigation, you need some kind of rangefinding, and a vision system. Vision seeks the clearest path, rangefinding determines if the camers is seeing a path or just the scenery over the edge of a cliff...

No matter what, put two safety shut-offs on the bot: One big red button right on it where it can easily be reached, and another via Radio. Just in case something goes wrong, anyone who is about to be run down by it can hit the red button instead.

Sounds cool, approach the problem in stages instead of as one huge project. Get a rolliong chassis first, then start adding more and more autonomous features.

Don