Roboter programming?

Hello! I will soon have to program a simple roboter
(simple movements, perhaps a map that displays the walked path and also code that helps the roboter to avoid obstacles by getting input from distance sensors).
Is there anyone here who is experienced in it and could give me some weblinks? I want to program the roboter in qbasic or even some stuff in vb if this is possible as well. Also I would like to know how it's possible to retrieve data from the roboter over a parallel port. I just need to know where to start with this.
I'd appreciate any help!