Almost Human: Making Robots Think by Lee Gutkind is a "creative nonfiction" book that provides a decent snapshot of what it is like to do robotics research at the university level. It gets uneven reviews on Amazon. I liked it (I am a bit biased because it describes projects I know well) and I suspect that most FIRST folks will like it too.
http://www.amazon.com/Almost-Human-M...112067&sr=8-15
-George