Some very newbie questions...

[Vunut]

I have virtually no experience with robotics, but I am a fairly experienced programmer. I'm wanting to build a basic robot, but not one quite like the ones on this site and all other sites I've been looking at. What I'm wanting to do is build a literal computer (running an operating system such as Linux or [less likely] Windows) that can control real-world components in order to move/gather data. Now, I was wanting to know if there were any (C or C++) programming libraries that support controlling real-world devices such as motors. Also, since an actual "computer" takes alot more power than alot of the robots on this site, I was wondering what would be the easiest way to power this, and how I would go about doing this?

[inaki]

There is at least one already built robot that is a PC with robot capabilities, called the PC-Bot. It is a full PC that you can use as PC or as a robot. Check this link:

http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/

If you want only the brain, with Linux OS for example, you may want to check Gumstix boards: www.gumstix.com. These boards are cheap, small and have plenty of I/O lines.

If you want a barebone PC platform intended to be used as a robot core check the VoomPC (www.via.com.tw). It is aimed as a robot for cars but is perfect as a standard robot core. It accepts Linux and Windows.

If you want a general purpose PC core not intended specifically for robotics but suitable for this purpose, check the PC104 solutions. There are hundreds of these on the net. These are small single board computers that use standard PC components.

Even a PDA can be used as a cheap and powerful robot brain, although their I/O ability is limited to a serial or IR port.