Where Im at

Ok so what have i got and what have I done so far ........... As for tools and supplies ... very very little, Have managed to get a soldering iron and a few screwdrivers and a wire snip.  As yet have not bought any electronic items like resistors, capacitors or transistors.  Reason being very hard to find anywhere to buy them in my Country. Have found only one shop that sells some of the stuff i need but its fairly expensive compared to shopping online from other countrys.
I am looking at the shop promoted on the Lets make robots site called YourDuino (based in China) and will probably make my first order for parts through them, they seem to be very good value and have most of what i need to get started.
At the moment im working with parts i have scavenged form old electronics items, a lot of which i got from my local charity shop.  I have manged to get a few remote control cars for only a euro each even got a perfectly good working one which ill save for a later date to Hack.
Got a little electronic kit called Snap Circuits Pro for €3 with nearly all the parts working which is not bad considering they sell online for well over a €100.
I also use this to hook up some of my scavenged parts to and try things out ....

Also have various motors from the remote controlled cars, more from a hacked video camera and a large stepper motor from a photocopier i dismantled.

Have taken some capacitors off some of the hacked boards and have being experimenting with them to understand better how they work ( i can read about them online but i always find it better to work with things to learn better) also got a small supply of leds from the various hacked boards.

Have mostly being studying electronics on various web sites ... just trying to understand the basics plus learning about some simple to make robots like Beam bots ...... these are little robots powered by solar energy and can be very simple to make and cheap to make.

Also found a site that provides a circuit simulator applet that enables you to create circuits and simulate them. Its basic but dose help those that have limited knowledge of electronics understand things ... link provided in link bar.

So how much do i know about electronics and robots.... Very very little ... but up till a few months ago i knew even less.
Good thing is .... there is so much information on the internet to help me learn, down side is it can be a expensive hobby to have.
So this is the main reason ill be taking things slowly. But on a positive note parts required can be scavenged from old electronic stuff and be reused.

Those of you interested in Robots and would like to make some should check out the Lets Make Robots site (link supplied above) This is a great site with lots of experienced robot makers willing to help. And surprisingly enough to make a nice robot dosent require all that much knowledge, as there is a step by step guide to making a start here robot.

As for electronics .... this part is harder as there is so much to learn ... but that's where the fun is.

So what are you going to need to if you are interested in learning about robots and electronics ...

1. Multimeter .... Definitely need one of these ( i havent got one yet and its impossible to know whats going on without one ) so it will be soon got.
2. Breadboard .... another must have .... for laying out your circuits and trying things out 
3. Solder Iron ..... not as important but if your breaking up old electronics for parts you will need one.

But if your more interested in the Robotic side your going to require a micro-controller eg the brains of the robot ... research Arduino or picaxe these seem to be the main ones and both have lots of websites with information on how to use them.  In fact i find understanding how these work and how to use them easier then learning about electronics.