First of all: I have no idea about microcontrollers apart from a few number of experiences with Lego-mindstorms (and NQC). Programming should not be the probleme: i would rate me as advanced in C/C++.
I'm impressed by the many possibilities of the Arduino. So i thought about my own project:
I want to build a roboter arm witch can port different things. In my plan I would need three motors (but two of them are doing exactly the same). There are no other "special" things needed.
Please tell me forum: Would the an specific Arduino board be the best choice? What else do i need? How do i work with the motors? I have no serial-output in my computer. Is that a problem? Where do i get the motors and the arduino (as favorite a german seller)? I use linux. Is that a problem?
Greetings and thanks for your responses (wäre auch dankbar für Hilfe auf deutsch ;))
leifmos
He also has most of theSparkFun products at reasonable prices.
Motors - i.e. generally "servos" - are best bought through eBay, but you might also find something not always very expensive here: http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/suggest/servo
A 20 Euro standard Arduino 328 should suffice.
If you want to miniaturize it a little bit than have a look at smaller sized boards... Linux connects fine through USB
Servos can easily be directly connected to any microcontroller, however you will need external higher 5 volts current (around 2 amperes?)