Resources

BEGINNERS:
How to Build Your First Robot Tutorial

Motivation is key to success.
Why build a robot? What are your motivations? Do they look cool? Want to join a robotics contest such as battlebots? Robotics can teach you so much. You will learn skills ranging from electronics, mechanics, controls, programming, and even as broad as understanding animal behavior and human psychology. It is best before starting this robot tutorial to ask yourself what your goals of creating a robot are, and what are your motivations - otherwise you may quit halfway not quite knowing why you started.

Ok now that you know why you want to build a robot, lets talk about what you need to know . . .
The first robot is always the hardest.
So take the KISS approach: Keep It Simple, Stupid! This is good advice as my own first robot I aimed too high, wasted a lot of money, and it never really worked. While making your very first robot your goals should be to just learn all the basics: how to program, how to use the tools, terminology, learn basic technology, and how to get robot parts super cheap. Save that cool robot idea you have for your second robot. You can always scrap the first for parts to build the second later. Trust me.

societyofrobots.com/robot_tutorial.shtml
robotics.nasa.gov/links/resources.php
scienceclarified.com/Qu-Ro/Robotics.html
galileo.org/robotics/resources.html