Robot Controllers

Robot controllers are microprocessor, small computers, that are used to create small robots. At this point there hundreds on the market. Some are very simple and cheap while others are complex and expensive. Some are a mix of both.
The big players in the field are Lego and Vex. Both companies produce kits that are relatively inexpensive, fairly easy to program, have very good curriculums for teaching and are accessible to school systems and hobbyists. The Lego Mindstorms NXT has several processors inside but the main processor is a 32-bit ARM computer. The language that comes with the kit is called NXT-G and is a graphical language that uses icons to create the program. It is easy to teach younger kids how to use the language in a very short time. For the more sophisticated user, there are quite a few options. RobotC was developed at Carnegie Mellon University and is a nice C-like language that teaches the basics of C coding while being easy to use. Cost is pretty minimal for individuals and educational institutions. At this time, it is $30 bucks for a single license and $265 for a 12-seat classroom. I was able to use it to do a very short class with high school students and have them program the robot to make turns around a tape maze in less than an hour's time.
Here is the link to Lego.
RobotC link.