what types of microcontrollers do you use for your robot?

[mklrobo]

   Hello! I am new to this forum, and would like to ask a question.
What kind of microcontroller do you use for your robot, and what advantages does it offer?
I was reviewing Axon, and it has alot of features that I would like to use for my "future" robot.
There are alot of products that I have looked for, but could not fine until I went to this forum.
Parallax provides the propeller microcontroller. Have not used any adunio products. Thank you
for your direction. 

[Ibaeni]

I have frequently used the Arduino UNO. It's relatively inexpensive and easy to use. It is great at a hobbyist level.

I am also building a quadcopter, which uses an Arduino UNO and a raspberry pi. The raspberry pi handles higher level calculations and is used for camera vision. Some of the initial progress can be seen on our website and youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpXZnccf2D5zZKs32FRd2g
https://hyperionrobotics.wordpress.com/

[mklrobo]

  Cool! 
I should have bought a Raspberry Pi, but bought a beaglebone black.
Lots of power and memory, but the support is low, which makes programming
obtuse. Raspberry Pi has lots of support, and more devices! (Mathematica Free!)
Alot of people are using the Ardunio line, and so, I must investigate! 
Thanks for the info. 

[Schlayer]

    Personally, I've found Arduinos both Uno and Leonardo at Microcenter for just under $10, able to be picked up in store or shipped for free, they are just printed by Inland instead of Adafruit. I've also found on occasion some Ebay deals allowing for even the Adafruit ones to be bought for $10 or less. As someone just starting out with micro-controllers, I just love the mix of ease of use and affordability that they provide, plus you can power them with anything.
    5V input power means literally any DC source plus a common voltage regulator circuit and you're golden! You can power it from a USB port or wall socket converter, or for mobile projects a rechargeable battery near 5V or else a common 9V with a single 5V regulator. They are truly wonderfully versatile, like any micro-controller, and online support for coding is fantastically easy to find, not to mention the breadth and depth of the built in libraries.
    The Arduino Leonardo has some interesting features I like which the Uno lacks including the ability to emulate a keyboard and mouse, allowing it to directly interface with a computer. The Uno is generally more widely supported by kits that use Arduino as it's a lot less new (I feel unjustified in saying any Arduino is 'old') with respect to the Leonardo, plus its main processing chip is replaceable in the event of a mishap for I think less than $5, so you don't need to get a whole new board. Either one is available at Microcenter, and I posted links for both to be bought on Ebay for under $9. Have fun!

http://www.microcenter.com/product/431997/Uno_R3_MainBoard

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SainSmart-UNO-R3-Board-ATmega328P-ATmega16U2-Free-USB-Cable-For-Arduino-/300948763268?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4611f1b284
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Leonardo-R3-ATmega32U4-Board-for-Arduino-Compatible-/151548350531?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2348fc5043