I've done some experiments with low-cost robotics platforms. I found that Tamiya have cheap kits which are good for this, namely the "Wall Hugging Mouse" kit and the "ShovelDozer" if you need dozer-type traction! I modified the wall hugging mouse, adding larger model airplane wheels to allow it to operate on carpet, and gutting the "electronics" (if you can call a single microswitch "electronics"), replacing it with a PIC 16C84 microcontroller, L293D H-Bridge DC Motor driver chip (actually 2 piggy-backed to supply the needed current). A basic TTL oscillator running at 40KHz drives 2 near-infrared LEDs and is controlled by the micro. The micro reads a Sharp infrared remote-control sensor to see if any objects have bounced any of the infrared light back, thus forming a "radar" object detection scheme. The microcontroller then switches the motors accordingly. The rest of the smarts are in the software.
One day, I'll get around to putting the circuit details on here. Email me if you want them.
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