Before getting started as a amateur Robotics geek I would like to say two things

  Robotics isn't an easy hobby.....

Nothing is impossible (i'm-possible) in this world, the only thing u required is infinite resources....

robotics is the area which requires a lot of resources and skills, Besides the obvious - mechanics, programming, and electronics, there are the less obvious skills of diligence and genuine curiosity. If you don't have a will to learn, if you don't have the tenacity to keep going, and if you really don't want to know, then, forget amateur robotics. and if u want to learn and really excite of the world of robotics than you are most welcome on this page.

we can narrow down the gap between the amateur robotics and an expert bie only by looking at the broad range of  expert people, universities robotics society etc. that are doing stuff with robotics. A good place to start with it is

www.roboticsindia.com  (by vikas patial)

My experience is only in the construction of autonomous robots. During my final year Robotics project I was involved in the process of building a path finder robot "pioneer". I learned a number of practical lessons related to building of these type of systems. here i would like to summarize some of the lessons I learned the hard way by building systems that failed, or by observing other peoples (other groups of my batch) doing such stuffs.

As Computer Engineer - By practical experience I am pretty strong with the hardware interaction and - microcontroller programming. My mechanical experience is a little below average - I am no mechanical engineer, I wouldn't dream of doing the calculations to design a mechanical system. which is one of the crucial part of hobby robotics.

here is the detail of my own robotics project-------

INSPIRATION BEHIND THE PROJECT
INTRODUCTION TO PIONEER
TEAM MEMBERS
BASIC MODULES OF PIONEER
WORKING OF PIONEER
HARDWARE CONSIDERATION for robot PIONEER
      MICROCONTROLLER
      SENSORS
      PARALLEL PORT
      POWER SUPPLY
H-BRIDGE

     PROGRAMMER
      SOFTWARE SUPPORT
      TEST conclusion and future prospects