Board/shield recommendations to support dc motors/xbee/IMU/GPS for dfrobot.

Hey guys,

First post here and am very new to arduino. I have an arduino uno r3 and the arduino motor shield, and would like to eventually build either the 2wd or 4wd robot from dfrobot.

If my end goal is to incorporate a wireless joystick connection via xbees, a gps and compass unit for auto-navigating, eventually an IMU, a couple servos, an IR sensor from sharp, and several analog sensors along with the 2/4 dc motors. I am curious what board/shield set-up would be the best for this - if it's even possible to run all of this at the same time.

I was curious if the best way to go about this is to use the uno and the motor shield I already have and stack a gps and xbee shield on top of it. Or if it was better to start fresh with another board/shield combo that would be better suited for all of the I/O mentioned?

Also, wold anyone recommend the 2wd or the 4wd platform over the other for any particular reason. I have read that the 2wd is more nimble for line/edge tracking and has better battery life (due to only 2 motors), but am a little concerned about space for boards/breadboards on top. Any other advice also appreciated.

Thanks!

Well your in luck for space because Arduino shields are stackable. Arduino UNO -> motor shield -> Xbee shield, and maybe even an expansion board. The only thing you need to really worry about is available pins. What shields are taking up what pins? If you get a stackable motor shield, then you need to see what pins it's going to use and what pins the Xbee shield needs in order to work. And if you are in a tight jam with available pins, then you can always get an Arduino mega, it has plenty of pins.

Shop around, make a list of what you will/may need, and do some research on each part. You have two good platforms, rather pricy, but good for projects.
So make a list of parts, and go from there.