Where to start? new robot

[clone]

I wanna make a robot.. and what it does is at a certain temperature it will turn off a heating device.  it will use a thermistor as the temperature sensor, and a solenoid to control the power of the heating device.  I want to be able to add more sensors later on as well as more output ports aswell.

what kind of micro controller do you think i should get for this? where should i start?

[dt]

I guess any board will do, if you know some C then you can go with the Arduino
The language for Arduino is pretty simple...
bool device = 1; //1 for true/on
if(temperature > 90)
      device = 0; // 0 for false/off
.
.
.

[frodo]

arduino is a different robot programming language in between BASIC and C which is compatible with the roboduino board.

[chelmi]

arduino is a different robot programming language in between BASIC and C which is compatible with the roboduino board.

Naaaaa

The Arduino "Language" is C (or even C++) plus an extensive set of libraries to easily access the hardware. But its still C.

[airman00]

it is C with an extensive library.
BUT because there are soooo many libraries and a majority of people ONLY use the subroutines that were prewritten for them in the libraries, it is in effect sort of like BASIC. I bet you many of the people using the Arduino think that Arduino is a language and is similar to BASIC.

[chelmi]

it is C with an extensive library.
BUT because there are soooo many libraries and a majority of people ONLY use the subroutines that were prewritten for them in the libraries, it is in effect sort of like BASIC. I bet you many of the people using the Arduino think that Arduino is a language and is similar to BASIC.

That's very subjective. People thinking it's similar to BASIC doesn't make it sort of like Basic.
Maybe it's my background in computer science, but Arduino and C have the same syntax, same type system, same execution semantic and share most of their core library (avr-libc).
BASIC as a completely different syntax, a completely different type system, the execution semantic is remotely similar, and the core library is not even comparable (what version of basic are we talking about anyway?).

I know, I sound a bit pedantic but saying that it's similar to basic is somehow misleading.
And don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Arduino. I own a board and I use the *libraries* quite often.

[airman00]

I see what you are saying and I agree: Syntax and Execution Style is different between Arduino and BASIC

However, I was referring to how complex procedures are prewritten to be one line commands in both Arduino and BASIC. For example SEROUT is a one line command to send out a software serial byte , it is used in both Arduino and BASIC . By the Arduino, SEROUT is a prewritten subroutine that is very complex ( software serial is pretty complex). One could also argue that SEROUT by BASIC is also prewritten subroutine since the compiler converts the SEROUT command to its equivalent code in assembly language. So it is possible to make the case that both Arduino and BASIC use prewritten subroutines/commands to do complex functions - making it very easy for the end user to make a program.

[ArcMan]

I know, I sound a bit pedantic

That's alright.  All engineers are pedantic.  Just ask my wife. 

[frodo]

lol, as i was saying, arduino language is like in the middle of C and BASIC because of the libraries used/available.