how expensive/difficult is it to get into robotics? I'm

>>932820
Depends on what you mean by "get into robotics"

If you mean as a hobby programming little toy arms they probably sell some you can program in python or use some sort of interpreter.

If you mean as a robotics programmer for industrial robots, read this article (http://robohub.org/the-future-of-robot-off-line-programming/) and then decide if you think you can gain the skills required. And it will probably be too expensive for you to do as a hobby.

If you mean how difficult is it to make a walking talking humanoid robot butler with natural language recognition, machine vision, force feedback and self awareness then unless you are rich as bill gates and as smart as a couple of Von Neumanns, Einsteins, Plancks or etcetera then it is going to be far too difficult and expensive for you.

>>932820
been a hobby of mine for years. I've built several. If you are hobbying it, go to robot shop and build a few kits first. You ain't gonna build an R2D2 though. Think smart trainable cockroach.

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>>932820
Maybe start with a Lego Mindstorm kit and work from there.

You can flash a Mindstorm controller brick with a Java interpreter called LeJOS, then write your code in Java.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeJOS

source: Did a Masters in AI and wrote a thesis on using Mindstorms to teach Behavioural Robotics to final year CompSci students

tfw: Your lab partner takes a nap against the wall and you position nine lego trike-bots to assault him in his sleep and turn them all on