Will an AX3500 work in the VIA/Roboteq robot?

<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">I am a middle school science teacher and also run an after school robotics club. Each year we participate in a contest called Botball and this year the theme is using robots to search for water on the moon. As a fun and advanced project I decided to have us build a complete semi-autonomous tele-operated lunar rover capable of finding water in soil samples.</SPAN>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">We are basing the project around a Via MII-6000 (may upgrade to the 12000) and I have most of the details worked out except motor control. In research I found the Via/Roboteq robot project and the roboteq controllers are perfect for the project. However, a large part of the funding for this project comes out of my pocket so price is an issue. I like the AX3500 over the 2550 for a number reasons, the lower price is one but the AX3500 also has servo motor outputs and we plan to put a robotic digging and sampling arm on the robot and this makes it easier. I also like the fact that the 3500 has encoder inputs on it.</SPAN>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">However, looking at the motors I don’t think the AX3500 can handle the current of the four NPC 2212 motors. Am I right?</SPAN>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If not, can anyone recommend a good set of motors and encoders that would match up with the AX3500?</SPAN>
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The 2212 will work fine with the AX3500. It is a nice, gentle, yet powerfull motor that should not draw too much current in normal operation (guestimated at less than 10A each).

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Thanks, that really helps to simplify the motor control issues. I have been reading the manual and it is an impressive piece of hardware to say the least. I cant wait to get one, will probably order after Christmas. I have a few student who will slobber over it as well!
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<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Must.....resist......spending.......Christmas money......on......motor controller.