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[on:]

Hi all! I am about to embark on my first major Arduino project and needed some advice regarding it. Here's what I have in mind:

We are basically looking to have a "swarm" of Arduinos communicating wirelessly to each other and with the controller (in this case, the host computer). Each of this units will have a number of sensors and actuators (about 4-8 servos for each), and will draw power from an external power unit.

Is Arduino FIO a good choice for each of these units? And I could use a XBee explorer USB on my computer to communicate with them.

I am lacking in experience here, so would really be thankful to hear your comments/experiences before I go and buy the hardware.

Appreciate your time!
Cheers,
Amit

[Reply #1 on:]

Is Arduino FIO a good choice for each of these units? And I could use a XBee explorer USB on my computer to communicate with them.

Maybe. The hardest part of the project is going to be getting all the XBees configured to talk to each other. The FIO is really intended to be one point in a point-to-point (i.e. two node) network, not as one point in a mesh network. However, that really matters only if you plan to remotely program the FIO.

I am lacking in experience here

Well, this isn't going to help any.

[Reply #2 on:]

Yes, the hardest part is to get the xbees configured.   You should spend a few days getting familiar with xbee, I got started with Robert Faludi's "Building Wireless Sensor Networks", that will clarify a lot of basic concepts.   I have a project working the way you intend, that should be no problem.