Imo if you got some decent fund you should look at mini-atx board. i.e : Mini Mobo[^] Then get a roomba base[^] which is controled by a serie link. If you need sensor consider getting an imu that you can dirve by usb or serie. Imo total this will cost you around 800$ with battery and all though. You'll have a prototype done fast that way and you can program it however you like. There's also robot selling for somewhat cheap price too : Turtle bot[^] There are several other if you Google a bit. If I were you though, I'd definitely make a PCB with an embedded chip. Enjoy your robot!

Anyone who write software need to know a little to be able to deal correctly with float. Too many supposed devs tell me "How come my number is not 0?!?!?" :rolleyes: I might be biased though, since I work mostly on embedded system...