oric_dan(333):
Lastly, another possibility to think about is adding RF comms to the robot, such as using
XBee. This way you can command the robot from your homebase PC and get status info
back while the robot is wandering. Eg, on top the Arduino motor shield, you can mount
an XBee shield.
No need for XBee - likely the netbook already has 802.11n/g on it (WiFi ethernet); instead, set up a webserver or something on the netbook that communicates with the Arduino, then use a browser on -any- remote PC (or phone) with WiFi to hit the server (you may want some basic security controls in place - WPA, MAC/IP address filtering, and such).