Hi Footprint!
Hm...
But we do not need xbee range. Beyond 10m, it gets really hard to grade, beyond 30m, it gets really hard to even steer. (1m is roughly one yard.)
Here's what I currently use and plan on building on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cm3TxekJO4
(The description has more info.)
This is also fully programmable, but uses very little power in a compact form factor.
So you would have the ITX on the grader and connect the USB servo-controllers to the ITX? And then you add an Arduino to control the lights?
Why not use the Arduino to do everything?
IMO, that's a lot of stuff to put into what will be a crowded machine.
And a Laptop as transmitter? On many driving courses, you might have to walk behind the machine. And how do you connect all the controls to the laptop? USB joysticks? But will that work? Look at the Caterpillar M-Series layout - you have to modify the sticks. How do you get those mods into the USB format without further complications? I guess there must be potentiometer-to-USB converters. But why not cut out the middleman and go Arduino directly on either end?
And even if you go with the previous H-series layout, you'd have loads of 2-axis joysticks arranged around a laptop, which you would be schlepping around the course.
To be fair, the Laptop would probably be a very nice and even realistic display. And you could reprogram your radio in the field - but all at a cost
Building a controller/radio is a project by itself and there are so many different options. It's always good to hear from other people's approaches.
Cheers
Jens