Okay, the new stepper motor finally arrived, and I tried out the sample code linked by one of the reviewers. It works fine, but some of the output pins used by the code are also used by the Arduino motor shield to control the motors. I'll have to find unused pins and rewrite the stepper motor code. I assume enough pins are available. If not...
Now that I have the stepper motor, I have to come up with a way of mounting the ultrasonic range sensor to the motor. First, I already attached the stepper motor to the top-front of the robot platform by reusing the long standoffs. I tried moving the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi to another location on the top plate, but the holes really don't seem ideal for anything. I wish the top plate had more holes for screws.
For attaching something to the stepper motor, I'll probably order this shaft coupler and this 1/4" rod. Then I'll have to find a flat platform or circuit board that can attach via 1/4" ID shaft collars or something similar, and I'll attach the range sensor to that board and wire it up to the Arduino stack.
I'm so used to looking through the McMaster-Carr catalog when ordering parts at work, but for this project, I'm looking through Amazon.com.
