Programmable robots

Question; What recommendations would you have for a somewhat complex, yet not incredibly expensive, programmable robot?

I'm suddenly in the mood to program again, but rather than just script up something I want to work with something tangible. After seeing one of those hilarious Roomba vaccuums, I'd like to try to program something that can learn its' environment, react according to some simple AI, etc. I'm currently looking at a Robosapien V2 which is about $200, but I'm not afraid to spend a little more than that (maybe up to $500 or so) for something better. I'd like it to be humanoid but that's not a requirement. Mostly, I just want to have complete control to program it and have it run off of that program alone, rather than be remotely controlled or only following simple commands. The more features it has, the better. Doesn't matter if it's prebuilt or 'do it yourself', as I'm just interested in the software end. Any recommendations?

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I know some of you fuckers do this shit.

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You can get Microsoft Robotics Studio here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics/

It's a free download for non-commercial use. It lets you develop and test the software for your robots using the .NET platform, allowing you to use C++/CLI, C#, VB.NET, etc.

There's links to third-parties which sell the actual hardware.

Worth checking out.