Robot Rover 5 with Arduino Mega2560

I haven't posted an update in a while, that's because I  have been very busy with every spare moment building an Arduino controlled Robot. I haven't given up on the Raspberry Pi. The goal of this project is to actually have the Arduino control the sensors and motors, report the data back to the Raspberry Pi which will be controlling a camera and Internet wifi communication, it will take all the data and instruct the Arduino on what it should do and where it should go.
So far it has been a fun and frustrating process.  As many of my followers know,  I

Arduino Bot is hot... Wait, no.. IT'S ON FIRE!!

For 3 nights I stayed up till 3am trying to figure out the insane wiring on this thing and trying to get everything correct. Finally completed it today, typed in some sample code and get ready to test it.  I flip the switch,  The lights come on, a good sign... Then they all go out.  A couple seconds to see if anything is going to happen and....  Nothing.  Damn,  now I have to trouble-shoot and do more research. But wait,  what is that I smell?  Plastic burning?  Yep I smell plastic!  Now I see smoke coming from the wiring/mounting holes.  The power is off so what the heck?  I see more and more smoke coming from the motor compartment and can't get to it because I tightened all the cover screws!  A race to get the cover off and remove the batteries before the whole thing goes up.

Arduino Mega 2560 + Raspberry Pi experimental platform

First experiment with a mobile platform using the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino mega 2560.  The kit comes from Sainsmart.com and is a very basic starter kit with the mega 2560, motor driver board and the sensor shield as well as most of the car parts themselves. I purchased them from Amazon.com for about $80 each.  Not bad when the Mega alone sells for $60+ bucks.