Hey everyone, so I'm participating in a competition in my college that's pretty simple but then again I'm a complete novice when it comes to robotics. I need to construct a boat that is capable of performing certain tasks. Last year I have seen people compete by making wired bots but that was extremely cumbersome to operate and required 2 people just to hold the wires. Hence my question for you guys is this -
I need suggestions for a Tx/Rx set (note that the Rx will be on a boat so preferably water resistant) that can offer me the following functionalities -
1) Running a propellor (controllable high rpm and reversible DC motor)
2) Controlling a rudder (servo)
3) Operating a winch (single low rpm but reversible DC motor). Will be carrying a load of about 100-150 g of weight (a magnet permanently fixed and a piece of iron that needs to be picked up)
4) Generating a stream of water (need help with this one). Needs to be able to direct a steady stream of water at a point (in order to tear a tissue paper fixed in a spot in one round and fill up a bowl placed 50 cm high in another round). I can manually change the direction of the pipe generating the stream between rounds so no mechanism to control stream direction needed.
Also need suggestions on the motors and servo as described. Please note that bot mustn't be bigger than 45cm * 15cm and I need flat clear space in the middle to carry a 4cm cube. I can handle the mechanical parts and bot creation/arrangement, just need help with the electronics.
I know I might be using very poor terminology but I honestly don't know better unfortunately though I'm very willing to learn. If possible, please suggest makes and models (preferably cheap and easily available) or correct terms that I could use to get what I need from a dealer. Also if you recommend any links for me to read, I shall go through those too.