By golly, I think this just might work!

Over the weekend I received the Virtuabotix temperature/humidity sensor and plugged it into the Arduino like the included diagram shows, downloaded the library from the Virtuabotix website, and right away I started getting temperature, humidity, and dew point readings. This little gadget will come in handy for monitoring the inside of the rover so I know the electronics are safe. I imagine in sunlight, the inside of the rover will be like the inside of a car so knowing how hot it gets in there, I can decide whether I need to use a bit of Mylar to keep the sun out or if it's not really needed. And also, knowing the temperature inside at night will be good so I can protect against dew build  up on the circuits.

 Since I was now getting information back from my rover, I decided it would be nice to know how many volts I have left on the battery. So I googled the code for such things and actually found the code on Arduino's website. 4 lines of code and a wire running to analog I/O port number 0. Since I'm dealing with a 10 volt battery and the I/O port can only handle 5 volts, I made a simple voltage divider circuit so the port only sees half the voltage and then I tweaked the code a little so it reports back 10 volts instead of 5. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of this set up before I took it apart to work on other things. But I'm sure you'll see it in action soon enough.

 I went out and got the solar panels I needed from Radio Shack and tested those on Sunday. Here I have a picture of a quick set up to take the 11.5 volts generated from the solar panels down to under 5 so I can monitor that voltage as well.

 I also received the ultrasonic range finder in the mail the other day too. I really haven't played with this yet but it should come in handy later for obstacle avoidance when I finally get this project rolling.

 Which brings me to my favorite part. I got the last 4 motors in the mail yesterday. I soldered on some wires, quickly hot glued them in place with some wheels attached, added lines of code for the new motors, and got a few tests done this morning.

 Yes I'm using a sugar dispenser for a test stand. It was the only thing tall and skinny enough around for such a quick test. But anyway, in the video you can see the Amps measured from the battery. I switch between high and low speeds to see the changes in Amp rating. 220 mAhs for all 6 motors on high! This means I can drive around for, ideally, 7 hours on a charge. Once I get the camera and servos in place, that number will likely drop quite a bit though. 

Now of course I had to set it on the floor just to see what would happen. 

 It kind of reminds me of when I was a little kid trying out ice skates for the first time. Obviously I'm not going to simply hot glue motors on and expect them to stay put. So now the next phase in this project is the suspension. I'm thinking hollow tubes for suspension arms, to hide the wires in, and some kind of torsion spring to allow for movement. More on this later. Stay tuned!