Let me start off by saying I am new to the world of microcontrollers and have never actually assembled one on my own. We did a bit of microcontroller stuff in my undergrad (mechanical engineering), but I haven't touched the subject since.
I am looking to build a gsm-enabled electromechanical locking system that accepts PIN pad or RFID swipes, and asks a server whether the user ID is valid, and then unlocks the lock.
This needs to be relatively robust, since it is in the context of a wireless bike lock.
I'm thinking of the Arduino Uno, since it has serial interface capabilities and usb interface capabilities, along with all the PWM slots I'll likely need to control these peripherals.
The part I'm unsure of now is which route to take for the peripherals:
- to get entire modules (i.e. buy an arduino gsm shield and a servo shield, and a bluetooth le shield.),
2)OR get an Arduino Proto board and combine all of these pieces into a single module
Any thoughts on which route to take would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to order the parts early next week.