You should be able to configure one Dlink as a access point, and the other as a bridge. The bridge would go on the robot, and you would connect your programming computer and/or DS to the Dlink configured as an access point. But you already know that...
Instead of using the FIRST configuration for the bridge, look up the manual for the version router you have (update firmware if needed! It helps!), and use the Dlink instructions for joining a bridge to an existing network (The one created from the Access Point Dlink). I haven't tested this out (I don't have 2 dlinks), but when we use bridges and access points, this tends to work best for us.
JAVA note: If by not working you mean "can't deploy code", then try having only one network connection: to the network where the robot is. At least last year, our team was scratching our heads, untill we found that netbeans was trying to deploy the code to a nonexistant robot on our other (school) connection.
If none of these work, shawnz's method is one of your best bets. The "laptop to access point on robot" connection should be good enough for programming, testing, and indoor demonstrations (given 802.11n wireless cards). In our case, updating the router's firmware inexplicably made a huge 5db difference, and also gave much better trip times and packet reception.
Good luck!