This probably qualifies as my first real robot. Still works after 20+ years.
I built it as part of the final project in my grad school Artificial Intelligence course. The professor made sure I understood the project was a software project, and not to get hung up on the hardware side (fortunately, being an electrical engineer in a comp-sci class made that a little easier).
Here’s my final report, along with all the typos intact…
http://www.robojay.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/jfrancis_robot_1993.pdf