Need a question answered about manual control

Complete newbie with this and trying to figure out if the ardupilot/rover using the pixhawk is the way to go on my project.

What I want is fairly simple so pixhawk might be overkill.

I’d like to control a retrofitted Jazzy scooter base via a Sabertooth driver and a RC module from a laptop, using either key strokes or a joystick. Think remote operation of the scooter base using a nearby laptop being remotely operated via Teamviewer and the internet by a user on the other side of the world literally.

The Sabertooth has the RC control built in but I will need something like a Xbee or (I am assuming) the pixhawk to generate the signals and feed the signals to the Sabertooth motor controller.

So the question is, is there a manual over ride or manual control feature on the ardupiolot/rover software/mission planner that can be used with arrow keys or some other assigned keyboard keys to operate this scooter base? Or am I using a laptop to drive a nail so to speak? : )

Hello,
you can use RC_OVERRIDE to simulate RC input with a joystick. Try to look at mission planner : http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/flying-with-a-joystickgamepad-instead-of-rc-controller.html

That is an interesting feature but my problem is that the person that I want to control the rover is literally on the other side of the world from the laptop that is running the rover. I can use Team viewer to remotely control the keyboard to press the SWAD keys or the arrow keys but not sure I am smart enough to figure out how to couple the output from a joystick or game controller to show up on the remote laptop.