WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY: So build your own robot!

UPDATE: Reader Ian Watson writes:

I’m a 23 year old law student and my mom got me that LEGO mindstorm package for Christmas. I didn’t quite know what to think about it… then I spent the entire Christmas break drinking beer and making a robot that would patrol my kitchen and chase the dog. The programming software for it is rather easy (done with pictures and a little bit of logic), and you can do a whole lot with the sensors it gives you. My robot could drive around the kitchen, and when it hit something turn around and find another way. Then every 30 seconds it would stop, scan the distance in front of it, then rescan… if the number changed (something moves in front of it), the robot would make a horrible noise and go full blast forward until it hit something. I called him Lance.

Sounds like fun!