Gone are the days when robots would cost you an arm and a leg. You can now buy robots for a lot less money that are a blast to have around the house. How cheap am I talking about? How about less than $30! These fun bots are loads of fun around the house.

The iDog is a very cheap robot. It is not made to really look or act like a dog though. In fact, it sort of looks like what you would get if you crossed a cell phone with a marshmallow and tossed in a little bit of dog.

The cool thing about this dog is that you feed it with music and it enthusiastically shows its delight through a series of movements and blinking lights. The robot canine can wiggle its ears, sway its head and flash its eyes in tune to the music. Manufacturers say the dog will actually develop a "personality" in accordance to the music you feed it.

The "Shooter Bots: The Game" toy consists of a robot tank that tracks people down and a gun that you use to shoot at the tank. The Shooter Bots can track and follow you around the house wherever you go using the gun as a homing device and then shoot you with its red laser ammunition. If you think hiding will be your salvation, you underestimate the darn thing. For instance, if you decide to hide behind the door, the robot can bounce its infrared light off a nearby shiny object to hit you on the rebound.

The Mini Roboraptor from WowWee Robotics looks like one of those terrible raptors on the "Jurassic Park" film series but this one is made of silver and white plastic. No, it doesn't growl or attack other stuff and rip it to shreds like those other raptors. Mainly, the robot dinosaur just walks around the room as if searching for prey.

Another popular and inexpensive robot is a robotic arm like the Amatron Robotic Arm. It is true that these robots do not really do much, but they are still fun. If you are seriously thinking about building your own robot, then a robotic arm is the perfect first step. Most robotic arm kits come with lots of educational materials, even more so than full body robot kits. You basically learn how to build a robotic arm and the dynamics of how robots move.

So there you have it. These are the most popular selling robots for under $30. Computer chips continue to get cheaper and more powerful. This means more and more robots will begin to fall under $30 which is good news for all us robot enthusiasts.