Drop matlab.
Use http://itpp.sf.net/ and stay out of gsl, it's way too complicated to do simple things like matrix operations.
For plotting there are great tools for python.
Actually studying A.I. does not need a robot so badly.
I normally use a combination of player and the provided simulators, stage and gazebo for A.I. http://playerstage.sf.net/ .
Stage is good for studying group behaviour(agents) and gazebo is 3d with physics which make it great for more precise robotics.
For robot vision like tasks i suggest aquiring a fisheye camera, sticking it to some mobile platform - a chair with wheels in the worst case - for avoiding shake and wandering with it around, recording a movie to interpret it later with computer vision + A.I.
Also checkout my project http://miarn.sf.net/ to see my recent research in robotics, the world best GUI for mobile robots.
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Drop matlab. Use http://itpp.sf.net/ and stay out of gsl, it's way too complicated to do simple things like matrix operations. For plotting there are great tools for python.
Actually studying A.I. does not need a robot so badly. I normally use a combination of player and the provided simulators, stage and gazebo for A.I. http://playerstage.sf.net/ . Stage is good for studying group behaviour(agents) and gazebo is 3d with physics which make it great for more precise robotics.
For robot vision like tasks i suggest aquiring a fisheye camera, sticking it to some mobile platform - a chair with wheels in the worst case - for avoiding shake and wandering with it around, recording a movie to interpret it later with computer vision + A.I.
Also checkout my project http://miarn.sf.net/ to see my recent research in robotics, the world best GUI for mobile robots.
http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/working.html