What kind of skills do you have? Can you do basic soldering and follow a simple diagram? If so you only really need a robot chassis which you may stand more chance of getting. Most roboteers will be able to knock up a simple hdpe chassis, you could then buy the electronic components and put them together and fit them to the robot.
At least that way you would have an understanding of the electronic part of the machine which is the part that most often goes wrong.