One thing nice about the Arduino platform is that it was historically developed by educators with open source learning in mind, and there is no heavy corporation control of the patents. I think I might be able to get all the supplies needed to make an Arduino robot for $50 (class fee), but this means ordering the parts directly from China through ebay. For example, Today I ordered the UNO R3 Starter Kit for 21.96! If you don’t mind waiting for slow boat mail, I think these prices are incredible. Everything needed to start coding a microprocessor
