Remote controlled 8258 alternative truck with Arduino: introduction

After a long, long time without any post, today I'm going to resume my initial goal for the blog and I'll show you an Arduino + Lego project.
It's a modification to the truck of the 8258 alternative model to make it a remote controlled vehicle via a pair of Arduinos.
In fact this is a proof of concept for future, more elavorated, models. I had the model already built and the goal was to make it remote controllable with the minimum effort. So, no asthetic goals, complicated solutions... just a proof of concept.

The project has two parts:
1- The truck itself. With a motor to power the car governed by an HBridge, a servo for the steering, a radio receptor to receive commands and an Arduino to control it all.
2- The remote. With a Wii nunchuck, a radio emitter and an Arduino.

It this video you cand see it in action.



My first intention was to write two big posts. The first one about the construction process and the second about the programming. The problem is that I don't have the time. So I've decided to write short posts focused in a simple aspect of the project every time.
So this is the first post of a serie: the introduction.
In the next weeks I'll try to write a post a week and put a link in this first post every time new one is published.
Enjoy!