Need Robot Ideas << Shot in the Dark

[Tweeter0830]

Hi guys, first post. This is a big open ended question, but I was hoping I could find some sort of direction. I recently took a class dealing with microcontrollers (mostly Arduinos) and the experience has left me with a taste for robotics. The only problem is, I don't know what to do. I want to try something novel or useful, but I have very few ideas. I was thinking of building some sort of autonomous submarine, but I did a little research and figured fabricating a shell would be hard and I can't find any good RC subs to hack. Plus, what would I use for sensors?

I was also thinking about building a robot that would find tvs and shut them off, but the only way of finding a tv, would be following its supposed "intermediate signal." I have a vague understanding of what this is, but I need more concrete evidence that it exists and is something a robot could pick up before i can go any further. In order to take reading on these signals, I would need something that picks up radio frequencies in the 40 MHZ range, but I don't know anything cheap I could get to pick up those signals. Maybe I could mod an old radio?

I can code pretty well and have a good bit of spare cash laying around, but I lack creativity sometimes. Do you guys have any cool ideas that I could base a robot around? I know I probably won't get a full project idea from you guys, but I'm hoping for a few cool ideas that i could maybe hash a cool robot from. Also, if anybody has a solution for the 40MHZ/ish radio receiver that would be great too.

A couple of my old projects (Check the directory of this site for some cool projects)
https://wiki.engr.uiuc.edu/display/ae498mpa/EL-Wire+Lasertag
https://wiki.engr.uiuc.edu/display/ae498mpa/The+Sharp+GP2D12+Infrared+Range+Finder

[Asellith]

Well this is the last time you will be able to say you have a good bit of cash laying around if you get into robotics I would start simple. Plan to build more of a platform then a specific robot. Like a robot that can avoid walls and roam around can be designed with larger projects in mind so you add a few sensors maybe some additional mounts for the sensors and you have a different robot. Just insert new code. Maybe start with something like the Axon for a controller. This will give you plenty of cpu power and easy connection to sensors and servos. So start simple and make something that avoids objects then work up to robot that maps a room or does other specialized tasks. Get your feet wet first but like I said if you design the platform and brain right you can get a lot of miles out of one robot.