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By valda
#199320
Hi guys,
I could really use some guidance as far as shopping list (and perhaps method) because I prefer to buy everything in one go to save on time and waiting.

What I want to do: a wifi (i.e. browser-controlled) robot with a webcam. Say I'm in another country and my robot is home, I want to be able to connect to it, see what it sees via the webcam and control it with a simple gui interface and have it move about. The robot will also have a robotic arm and probably 4 wheels (that's overall about 8 motors). As far as the mechanical parts, that's less of an issue since I'll buy a pre-made robotic platform to save on time. The question is "what do I need to buy?"

Here's what I already have:
Arduino Uno
Arduino Motor Shield

I plan to purchase:
ESP8266 Thing


Do I need anything else?
#199327
Have you seen the WiFi controlled robot tutorial by Alex the Giant of Sparkfun fame?

Here is a link to the tutorial:
I prefer to use a smartphone as the camera and just call via skype than use the tutorial setup. Also I already have Arduino Uno and Arduino Motor Shield, so according to my calculation I really just need a lithium battery, ES8266 and FTDI Basic 3.3V. I just hope I'm not missing anything.
Buy the robot & arm first and then you will have some idea what else will fit on the platform. Don't forget the suitably sized batteries!
That's less of a concern if mechanical parts fail or whatever, wifi connectivity and port forwarding is my main concern since I didn't see a lot of tutorials about it. In the linked tutorial, it just mention that it can be done but not how.

-Val