Hi there Peter - glad you enjoyed the event at the Space Center, the amount of positive feedback weve had from it has been overwhelming !

If youre starting out Id suggest starting at the simple end of the scale. Youll want gearboxes and motors that come as integrated units - all you need to do is fit your wheels on. Cheapest source of these are cordless drills http://www.gimsonrobotics.com/electricmotors.htmlhttp://www.gimsonrobotics.com/electricmotors.html is a good source, most expensive source is http://www.robotcombat.comhttp://www.robotcombat.com (Astroflight 940Ps). Either way start simple, you can always upgrade later.

Speed controller - for out of the box usage Id reccomend a Sidewinder which you can buy from James Baker above. http://www.robotpower.comhttp://www.robotpower.com for details on that.

Radio gear - yes 40Mhz is the way to go.

As for shock mounting, yes youll need to think about the shocks but for a general rule make sure you can pick your robot up by any other part of the robot (and that includes batteries, motors and speed controllers). If you can do that you should be on the right road.

Youre bound to get plenty of information from the builders around here on what to do !

Welcome to the family

Ed
http://www.teamstorm.comhttp://www.teamstorm.com