First Arduino project: line following object circumventing robot

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Hi,

This is my first Arduino project. I have zero experience with electronics.

I want to create a line following obstacle circumventing robot similar in design to the ones in the video. Those are just line followers, but I saw a similar one with obstacle circumvention.

Robotex 2016 | DAY 2 | Area 2 – line following and city passing

The competition looks like this:

Robotex 2016 | DAY 2 | Area 2 – line following and city passing

1)Line following 2)Swing [or however it's called] 3)Brick obstacle

Will these parts work in this project? What other parts do I need?

• Motor driver: Adafruit DRV8871 DC Motor Driver Breakout Board - 3.6A Max Adafruit DRV8871 DC Motor Driver Breakout Board - 3.6A Max : ID 3190 : $7.50 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
• Line sensor: This Pooljuht komponendid or this Reflective Infrared IR Optical Sensor with 470 and 10K Resistors : ID 2349 : $1.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits What's the difference?
• Distance sensor for obstacles: Andurid
• Motors: Will simple DC motor work here? DC Toy / Hobby Motor - 130 Size : ID 711 : $1.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

Which Arduino should I use?

Obviously it should be as small as possible. But have as many pins as necessary. Maybe 2 extra.

What else am I missing?

How many light sensors should I use?
I'm guessing 2 sensors isn't enough because there are different shaped curves. Also crossings etc.
Won't they take too many pins?
Should I buy this thing instead? Pololu - QTR-8A Reflectance Sensor Array It seems to be made for this exact purpose.

Do you know any tutorials for this type of minimalistic small robot?

The ones I've found seem to use bigger Arduinos and have very different designs.

Thanks in advance for any help in this. Sorry if this post is too basic.

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Will these parts work in this project?

Maybe. It depends on how light you can make the robot. I suspect that you'll need bigger motors.

Which Arduino should I use?

Any one you want. The motors will need 4 pins - two for direction and two (PWM pins) for speed. The line sensor will need one pin, although you will probably need at least three of them. The ping sensor will need two pins.

What else am I missing?

Batteries. A chassis. A lot of knowledge.

Do you know any tutorials for this type of minimalistic small robot?

I don't need no steeenking tutorials. But, google knows.

The ones I've found seem to use bigger Arduinos and have very different designs.

The size of the Arduino is completely irrelevant.

[unoriginal]

Thank you for the feedback!

PaulS:
Any one you want. The motors will need 4 pins - two for direction and two (PWM pins) for speed.

The line sensor will need one pin, although you will probably need at least three of them.

The ping sensor will need two pins.

I'll take the Arduino Nano. Seems that line sensors require digital IO pins and Nano has 22. So more than enough.

Now all I need is that "knowledge" thing you talked about. Wonder which store sells those

Thanks again!