NEw to programing and need lots of help

I'm programing my first robot for a school project and it's a little complex for my first time.
The teacher wants it to use a laser senor to avoid obstacles.
I'd like to start with just making the thing turn and go from there :cold_sweat:

Do you have any arduino knowledge? The first place to start would be the Blink and Blink without delay examples.

Also do you plan to use DC motors or servos?

Did you read the sticky topic at the top of this section, called "Read this before posting a programming question" ?
Does the senor speak English, or only Spanish?

HazardsMind:
Do you have any arduino knowledge? The first place to start would be the Blink and Blink without delay examples.

Also do you plan to use DC motors or servos?

I can turn the LED on the board on and off
and DC motors and yes there is a motor controller

yes there is a motor controller

Ok so look at the pins the motor controller uses and make one motor run. It might/will have an Enable pin, Direction pin and Speed pin. All of which will need to be set properly and defined.

Example:
byte/#Define Enable = 2 //High = allows motors to run
byte/#Define Direction = 4 //High = forward, Low = reverse ...Might be switched depending on shield
byte/#Define Speed = 3 //0-255 PWM

void setup()
{
pinMode(Enable, OUTPUT);
pinMode(Direction, OUTPUT);
pinMode(Speed, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{ /your code here/ }

I'd like to start with just making the thing turn and go from there

Makes a lot of sense - I'd suggest you pick the very smallest thing you can test and build up from there. No point complicating matters with the sensor until you can drive around.

thank you
so i need to figure out what pins on the board link to which motor

The motor controller needs to be connected to pins on the Arduino to control it. They may already be connected if the motor controller is a shield that plugs into the Arduino or you may need to connect them yourself. Once the control pins are connected and you have connected a motor to the controller you can consider writing a program to turn it on/off, reverse it and control its speed. Then the real fun begins.

It would be helpful to know which motor controller you are using.

UKHeliBob:
The motor controller needs to be connected to pins on the Arduino to control it. They may already be connected if the motor controller is a shield that plugs into the Arduino or you may need to connect them yourself. Once the control pins are connected and you have connected a motor to the controller you can consider writing a program to turn it on/off, reverse it and control its speed. Then the real fun begins.

It would be helpful to know which motor controller you are using.

a roboteq AX3500
my plan was to make a gameport to usb cable and use a usb shield