Hey guys,
So I am new to arduino, but I need to build a rc car which can follow you autonomously for a science fare project. I am wondering which arduino board I should get? I know that the UNO is perfect for beginners, but I don't know if it will be able to handle the workload/inputs. I've also heard that the mega is pretty good for beginners who know that they will go deeper later on. Thank you for the support! BTW this will be in a hobby-grade rc car, not one of those cheap toy cars because I want it to be able to tow something like grocery. lol
I am wondering which arduino board I should get?
That's a little like asking what color stepper motor to use. Any Arduino will be able to perform the necessary calculations. The bitch in this project is determining where the thing being followed is going.
Solve that issue, and the choice of which Arduino to use will be simple.
Thanks for the reply, but I don't really understand what your saying. The rc car is gonna follow me while I walk on the sidewalk so I don't have to hold say a backpack. I don't really know which sensors to use and how to implement it though. I guess I will go with any arduino that's in stock at my local electronics store lol.
If you want keep it simple you can use super sonic range sensor, and program it to keep specific distance between you and car.
Thanks, but the thing is that using that sensor the car won't be able to turn around corners and follow the exact path that I took. So if I turn it wouldn't be able to track or if there is any obstacles in the way it might think that the obstacle is me instead and just stop in front of it. 
thanks for the support though!
For autonomous system following a person without errors requires a lot more sensing capabilities. You can show them possibilities, what can be done if more sensors used.
I see, thanks. BTW is there a sensor that can tell you the distance to, say a phone broadcasting a signal and the direction the signal is coming from? I think that would work in this application, as I have seen many quadcopters with this function in the market already. They will follow you while hovering and can film you from the air while you do tricks and etc. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/airdog/airdog-worlds-first-auto-follow-action-sports-dron
I don't think such a sensor available right now. Of course there are many ways to do it, for example you can use sound localization in order to know where to sound coming from. Many quadcopters can do following, but it requires GPS and obviously it requires clear sky, no indoor application.
Xerial:
Hey guys,
So I am new to arduino, but I need to build a rc car which can follow you autonomously for a science fare project. I am wondering which arduino board I should get? I know that the UNO is perfect for beginners, but I don't know if it will be able to handle the workload/inputs. I've also heard that the mega is pretty good for beginners who know that they will go deeper later on. Thank you for the support! BTW this will be in a hobby-grade rc car, not one of those cheap toy cars because I want it to be able to tow something like grocery. lol
Did you get any further with your idea? I have just discovered arduino while having about exactly the same idea.
I've found several youtube videos. Those looked interesting to me:
Code and I think Instructions are available
Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting....
I 've never build something like this, can anyone give a build construction for completely newbies? I'm a C# Developer and hope to be stronger on the coding side of arduino. Anyone interested for a cool project?
I've never build something like this, can anyone give a build construction for completely newbies?
The below might give you some ideas.
Pretty good! Thanks