I just finished my first robot. It is very Classic - a platform, two motors and some sensors. My next step is to remote control it wirelessly. I just dont know how to do this. I was thinking about using my iPhone as a controller and later some kind of RC controller. What would you suggest?
If you just want to try "play with' wireless then think about IR.
All you need is an IR receiver, about $2, and a IR remote control.
I use my DVD or my TV remote.
Then later you can upgrade to something else.
The thing about 433Mhz (and similar ISM RF bands) is that there can be limits on the % of time you can use the frequency - will need a search. So good for occasional control (actually data exchange) but less so for continuous remote control.
IR is good provided you have line of sight to the receiver and using it indoors. (Arduino Libraries - IRLib & IRremote). range up to 15m.
(High power gives you effectively LoS indoors, because of reflections)
My suggestion would be to try using cheap Bluetooth serial adapters, which will give you more than reasonable range indoors and outside. (up to 10m?)
There are other RF modulaes like the nRF24L01 series which may be the next step up (not expensive either & libraries are available for Arduino). Much longer range available.
If you look at remote control of toy helicopters, the cheaper entry level ones use IR & the top end hobby & pro ones use RF.