I had the same concern about not being stand alone, but I loved the interactive debugging I had with a Netduino when I connected it to the USB cable. I thought the EZ-B would be so much better with its objects and ARC.

After using it for a few months, ARC and EZ-Script were different than what I expected, but being able to use the C# SDK got me back on track and being able to monitor things with ARC from a PC in real time has been fantastic.

I do like the concept of having a fully autonomous robot and I'm increasing the size of my platform so at some point it could accommodate a small PC/Pi/etc. I do wish there was a way to connect without Wifi for this purpose.

So while I understand the concern of WiFi always, the rapid development plus the power of a computer and the Internet are worth it in my opinion. Once the robot has been debugged, you can then port your code over to another processor if it is not using fancy camera functions.

So it seems that my order has shipped. So I have to factor in the need for a tablet/PC at all times or resell the EZB since shipping costs to/and from are steep.

My initial project implementation just got more complicated/expensive than I anticipated (I guess this is the rule).

In most respects my initial project is far more simple than the mobile robots people are building with EZB, but I have another requirement that makes my actual use more challenging in one respect -- it needs to break down easily.

So, I want to build basically an animated display. There would be three primary modules. Each of these would be the same but would operate on different timing. Each would have up to 5 motors or servos and possibly several sensors. so they would need at least five wire sets plus power.

The major hitch is that this thing needs to be portable.

I figured if I build it in a modular way, I can put the EZB in and build one module initially, get all the mechanics working and all that. No wiring transportation concerns.

But when I get to multiple modules they need to transport separately. I don't want to have to buy an EZB for each module. I don't want to have to hook up wires for each module when I take this to a show (typically a two day event). Seems like hooking up maybe MANY more than more than 15 wires in the right way would be tedious when I move this. I mean if I hooked up any of them wrong then some aspect would not function though I guess it would be easy to spot.

My thought had been that I would have an arduino of some kind in each module and command them via I2C. So in theory each module would only need one set of wires to hook up at an event plus it's own power.

The alternative I can think of is some sort of sockets that would make that wiring more quick and less painful...? But I have no idea how to find this sort of thing.

Also, I think the EZB is way overkill for this specific project, but I do have a future project that would use it more fully.

Speaking of that other project.... it is basically this remote control boat. What concerns me with this one now with the realization of how the EZB needs a tablet or PC is that... in the case the boat were to lose signal somehow it is dead. That is...there would be nothing on board to say make it stop, drive in a circle or say return home (if I had GPS module). To be fair, I am only talking probably 100 foot target range, nothing too dramatic here.

I considered standard R/C control but expected to have as many as 18 functions so the tablet control seemed far better, this is one key reason I found EZ-robot in the first place.