I love robots, especially Marvin the Paranoid Android.
Back in the 1980s, I took a course in Robotics and Industrial Controls. Part of that class involved building a robot from scratch.
We started with learning about individual discrete components like resistors and capacitors. Then used what we learned to build a power supply. Then on to digital circuits and IC chips, sensors, and motor controls. It was a simple machine with only one arm, but it was a lot of fun to play with.
My kids hated it because I would use it as a babysitter when the wife and I went out for a quick drink. It would activate a motion sensor, a sound sensor, and a light sensor at 10 PM. The kids were told to turn off the TV, turn off the lights, and go to bed at 10.
At first, they tested its capabilities, but when I asked them who turned on the light and went into the kitchen at 10:12 PM, they knew it would rat them out. They would scowl at it any time it was out roaming the living room.