Greetings Peter,
Glad you enjoyed the Space Center event, before you start anything please download and read the FRA build rules....

http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/documents/buildrules2006.pdfhttp://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/docu...drules2006.pdf

These will answer a lot of your questions regarding things like radio, allowable battery types, etc etc..
Once you have got your head around the rules, Im sure there are plenty of people on this forum who will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.