I found this rather helpful, and here are my questions:

1. Is 1000 rpm high enough for 3 blade 8" diameter?
2. I don't understand what you are trying to say here. I should probably mention, that while being a good programmer for c-based languages, I am relatively new to the Arduino circuits. Can you explain?
3. Is a 20Ah 12V battery (that I can actually use) too much?
4. I believe that the battery that I am thinking about is going to work, I'll paste the links.
   1. ABENIC Super Polymer Rechargeable 20000mAh Lithium-ion Battery DC 12V 2A (24W),DC122000 Blue
   2. uxcell JST-2P USB Charging Cable for RC Car 4.8V 250mA Ni-MH Ni-CD Battery
5. I really don't want to start with a quad, but as far as the autonomous stuff, I was going to just have it cycle going up, hovering, then coming back down, and cycling through that.
6. and, my robotics teacher will agree with me, the harder it is, the more I like it.

Hope all your stuff goes well, you seem to know what you are doing.