I just finished a hard wired Mousey junk bot which functions well but fine tuning the circuitry would seem more problematic than had I programmed Arduino. Our students are designing a review game using a Mousey with a timer inside a barrier ring lit with LED's. We simply need random behavior with reverse and turn ability. In the long term, I want to believe Arduino is the better choice rather than hard wiring each project. Is this the case?
A universal truth: If you can afford a general purpose solution, and if the general purpose solution is able to perform well enough for the task, the general purpose solution will be more flexible than the hardwired solution.
Some logic is very time-dependent and microprocessors or microcontrollers are strained to their limits to keep up. I doubt that a mousey bot fits that category. Reading from two sensors, dithering a motor or two... not too hard.
However, the spirit of a junkbot is to use scavenged parts, is it not?
I appreciate your advise. The BEAM ideology is appealing but results are more important. I have started Massimo Banzi's intro to Arduino. Would you suggest I focus on Processing instead?
I agree with halley about the 'scavenging' part, although I can see how the end results will be more satisfying if it works really well. I'm going to have a go at making one of these soon so it'll be quite interesting to see how they compare. I think an Arduino (or a clone) would work fine for a small and relatively simple project like this, although be prepared to troubleshoot software AND hardware errors (instead of just short-circuits and polarity issues you'd find with the more 'standard' junkbot).