Roboics programming. Sounds interesting but expensive :<
Also, probably have to learn a new language...
Hahah, a language. The cheapest robots will be hardcoded directly - there will be no language between you and reality!
Anyway, for a basic introduction to robotics(construction), a robotics kit will go for $20-$40 US, which I don't think is terrible. You'll get some basic understanding of mechanics, experience soldering (you might need to drop another $15 on an iron and some solder). These generally aren't programmable, but you can still learn a lot from them. For example:
http://www.trossenrobotics.com/solarbotics-photopopper-kit.aspxIf you don't want to /build/ one, and just one to program one
http://www.trossenrobotics.com/scribbler-robot.aspxseems like a good choice. You can either program it in basic or use their tile-based programming UI. (graphical languages can actually be pretty interesting, I played with Scratch for a while back in the day)
$65 really isn't that bad a price for a 7-sensor suite either. Better than mine had.
http://www.trossenrobotics.com/store/p/5913-3pi-Robot-Starter-Kit.aspxis a bit pricier, but has the advantage of being programmable in C, which is a good language to know.
And that's just looking through one site! Overall, you have lots of different options at lots of different price ranges, don't count yourself out yet.
Glyph, your's sounds like a predatory cat! xD Good motion vision, bad regular vision.
More like decent motion vision, no regular vision.
At least for identification purposes. If you stopped moving you became just another barrier to avoid.