> I have a brother-in-law who has expressed interest in a father-son
robotics
> project for him and his son.  (Finally!)  They're both pretty smart but
have
> no experience in electronics.  His son is 13.  I'm debating what to
direct
> them to.  I'm looking at 3 projects:  1)  Robert Nansel's breadbot robot
> series of articles in Nuts & Volts, 2)  Myke Predko's IR Tank robot using
> Tamiya parts or 3) Parallax's Growbot.

You might consider lego mindstorms, but it is fairly expensive (and hs no
PIC in it), but it is self-contined and easy to start with. We use it at
the kids electronics/robotics/computers club.
Wouter