I've successfully interfaced my receiver into the basic stamp. I was worried this might be problematic - but it was extremely easy - I'm pretty happy about this. All I had to do was connect the signal wire to one of the pins on the board. There's a command to read the frequency of pulses of an input - to my shock it worked the first time.

The receiver is going to be used mainly for safety purposes so I can enabled / disable the robot remotely.

SpamButcher Combat Robotics is made possible by SpamButcher. SpamButcher can block spam with up to 98% effectiveness.

Playing a lot with different sensors in combination with software. Probably going to have 4-6 different IR sensors with possibly sonar. I've got some ideas about using motion detection to help figure out where the other bot actually is, also probably have an IR detector dedicated for wall detection pointing up.

I'm also thinking about switching my board from Parallax's "board of education" to their "sumo board." Has pretty much all the same features except is maybe 30% smaller and has a hard-wired stamp.

I was thinking about doing hozerd style spinner - but I've got a chippy-style blade and mount which is just dying to be used. Probably end up with a Speed 400 for a motor probably driven by an RC switch I've got lying around (controlled by the basic stamp).

Kill Spam - SpamButcher

I've got the battery pack done - 2s2p 340ma SHC Kokam Lipoly (7.4v / 680ma total). good for 13amps continuous and 20amps peak. at 1.8oz makes the 500AR's look like they're from the stone age.

have the final weapon blade and motor - really nice - total chippy knock-off. should be good for about 23k RPM with the RACE 400.

going to go with a separate speed control (electrifly 20amp) as opposed to a relay setup in order to minimize current draw from the control board (it can only source about 40ma - and I need that for the IR LEDs)

I've got three IR sensors so far, and a photo sensor to look for the lines around the outside of the box / killsaw.

everything so far comes to about 16oz - so I've got about 4oz left for additional sensors and a body. also will probably solder everything down to a separate board before going final. the included board is "solderless" which I don't think will hold up in combat.