You /can/ totally do it hardmode though. I did small plastic battlebots several years ago, and I went for Xbee teleop communication to a microcontroller, controlling PWM motor drivers etc. (no, didn't go far enough that this gave me any competitive advantage)

But my real passion is tying together servos/microcontrollers/motors letting me make custom built teleop'd quadrupeds with airsoft guns, lasers and cameras...

There's a lot of stuff you can do in robotics before you get to true autonomy.

(just rambling, inspired by your comment; nothing you said is wrong :) )