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Many of the robot kit manufacturers organise competitions based around their kits.

Vex Labs is one such company.

Maybe you could attend a robotics tradeshow in Europe?

Just for the heck of it, here's a couple robot kits worth a look:

- Lego Mindstorms NXT (note: flash-based site with music)

The Lego Mindstorms kits have been around for a while now, but they offer almost infinite possibilities to those willing to experiment with different approaches to accomplishing a particular goal. Devices as complicated as photocopiers have been built using these kits.

- VEX Robotics Kits

The VEX kits are fairly new compared to the Lego Mindstorms sets, but are a bit more advanced and could be dubbed as an "Erector Set", but with a brain. The VEX kits were developed in part by FIRST and were briefly distributed by Radio Shack in a move to get more people interested in robotics.

The VEX robot kit is definitely worth a look for anyone wanting to experiment in robotic design, outside of the Lego-based options. It's sort of a "smart" erector set with loads of sensors and parts to choose from (including 3rd party customizations).

I like Lego Mindstroms, but recently I have been playing with Vex Robotics and its starter kit is good value for just $100. It is based on PIC and also includes RC controller. The pneumatic parts especially look interesting:

http://www.vexlabs.com/vex-robotics-pneumatic-part s.shtml

A lot of people have caught the obvious, so I will really just summarize.

LEGO NXT & Mindstorms are both great kits to play around in. Especially if you have traditional LEGO bricks and Technic pieces already.

If you are more into Erector style kits, then go with the Vex kits from Radio Shack. They are clearing them out for some reason, so they are cheap. Make sure you get a programming kit though.

If you want more "professional" robots, maybe take a look at Lynxmotion, they have really really cool sets that will come with everything you need to make an arm, or a walker, or what have you.

Of course, you can go pre-made, but simpler, with a Mark III. This basic kit is wonderful to learn programming of a micro controller.

If you want a more capable micro, the OOPic is a good choice.

I have played or own all of the products above, and they are all wonderful ways to get your hands dirty. Of course, also see the book recomendations in this thread, there are excellent selections there too that I highly recomend.

> So long as that robot can fetch beer for you, any cost is well worth it.

Not only will the Vex robots fetch beer, but they will also pour for you as well.

http://www.vexlabs.com/vex-bottlebot.shtml

Sorry, the RS dude read the wrong price, it's on sale for $50 but I didn't get one because he said $100 at the time. Good thing, because I found some info that lets you do the same thing with a little work. The interface is a TTL level RS-232 port, and you can get RS-232 to TTL level using a transistor and / or a TL082 op-amp. Just remember it's low level current so you can use resistors, diodes, and most PCs pick up ground as a (-) on the RS-232 port so no reason to go through all the trouble of making negative voltages. Why do people always do overkill on stuff like this? It's a simple inverter and only two signals to deal with! You can even get power directly from the RS-232 end if you like. You can trick the negative voltage if you have to by offsetting the (+) input of the op-amp or other such tricks you should know by now anyway.

"Vex is a pic controller. It is programmed in C using either Intelitek EasyC or Microchip MPLab, Cbot compiler, and IFI loader." "Computing power for the Micro Controller comes from two Microchip PIC18F8520 CPUs--CMOS processors that fly through instructions at a whopping 10 MIPS apiece and have 32K of program memory. The PIC18 contains a built-in A/D converters, a handful of digital input and interrupt lines, and an RS-232/RS-485 USART for serial"

https://jvex-robotics.dev.java.net/ToolChainSetup. html
http://www.vexlabs.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=9

Here is pinout for the RX1 or RX2 ports:
Pin 1 - Power +5 volts (the right most pin when looking at the front connector)
Pin 2 - Receiver
Pin 3 - Gnd
Pin 4 - Tether Detect (the left most pin when looking at the front connector)

RX1 and RX2 are inputs to the Master processor and can not be changed.

"The TX and RX data pins are on the inside by the marking. Closest to the TX label is data. The center pin is +5V and ground is the outside pin closest to the edge of the Vex Controller. This pattern is true for all the pins in the connector.

There are 2 Serial Ports on the User processor. One is connected to the Serial Port and the other one is connected to the RX and TX on the Analog/Digital connector. Both these Serial Ports are TTL levels and not RS232. Do not connect RS232 devices to these Serial Ports without level converters or damage may occur. There is no I2C bus available."

Our team participated at Atlanta in the Vex demonstration/competition as the Sharon Eagle Unlimited and Sharon Eagle AngelBots (http://eaglevex.home.comcast.net./ We fielded two bots, numbers 13, aka "Johnny" (http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-robots/vex-robo t-pics-28.jpg) and number 44, aka "Lassie" (http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-robots/vex-robo t-pics-33.jpg). We did very well, placing 19 and 29 respectively out of 53 bots. We had the youngest member in the competition (4th grade - go David!) who was the youngest driver in Vex competition.

The competition was amazing. Thousands of 13 - 18 year old nerdy-jocks with robots. How could it get better than that?

The Vex kits are a great fit between Legos and the FRC. It's been mentioned that Vex is an Erector Set with a controller and I think that's an appropriate description. It's a great kit and when you consider what's included, a good value.

Our team participated at Atlanta in the Vex demonstration/competition as the Sharon Eagle Unlimited and Sharon Eagle AngelBots (http://eaglevex.home.comcast.net./ We fielded two bots, numbers 13, aka "Johnny" (http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-robots/vex-robo t-pics-28.jpg) and number 44, aka "Lassie" (http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-robots/vex-robo t-pics-33.jpg). We did very well, placing 19 and 29 respectively out of 53 bots. We had the youngest member in the competition (4th grade - go David!) who was the youngest driver in Vex competition.

The competition was amazing. Thousands of 13 - 18 year old nerdy-jocks with robots. How could it get better than that?

The Vex kits are a great fit between Legos and the FRC. It's been mentioned that Vex is an Erector Set with a controller and I think that's an appropriate description. It's a great kit and when you consider what's included, a good value.

Ok, I seem to have answered some of my own questions by downloading the inventor's guide (76MB PDF File) from the Vex website.

With the exception of programming, the overall learning curve seems pretty minor. The hardware assembly is only slightly more difficult than comparable Lego kits, and does not seem to require the user to solder anything.

As for additional parts, it sounds like the best option is to purchase two starter kits and combine them into a larger, more functional robot. Although, I did find another site that sells less common Vex parts, such as a pneumatic pump system. It also appears the site will be selling add-on sensors in the near future.

Overall, Vex is looking to have a bright future ahead of it. I'm just hoping it doesn't get killed off due to a lack of market exposure.

Lots of good robopr0n, though only of Vex, no Lego or other FIRST robots:
http://www.vexlabs.com/vex-robot-photos.shtml