Now here is a different remote control robot.  A simple sphere that can be controlled by bluetooth.  Video with link to article.

Now if these had any sort of external sensing [seems to have just internal gyroscope and accelerometer], how about a flock [fleet?] of them to be used as remote sensors for other bots?  eyes and fingers.  At $129 each though, that would get pricey fast.

The Technomagic of Sphero

These are being taught by one of the Standford professors that taught the machine learning course that I posted last fall, plus a prof from U of Virginia.

CS 101: BUILDING A SEARCH ENGINE
CS 373: PROGRAMMING A ROBOTIC CAR

See Udacity or directly to CS 101 and CS 373

The robotic car course adds to the previous course, but the previous courses is not a requirement.  CS 373 assumes strong programming knowledge, but CS 101 does not need any previous programming background.