[alex.lew]

We used the same LED strip from Adafruit as 2168 and attached it to our robot cart instead of the actual robot. We used an Arduino Uno board, powered by a 12V rechargeable battery provided by a mentor. Then we used the DC/DC power converter from the KOP for the LEDs, since they only take 5V.
For the programming, download the LPD8806 Arduino library. It gives a couple example sketches with which you can learn how to customize the LED sequences. One of our mentors had prior experience with Arduino, which helped a lot with more complex sequences. but basic control is pretty simple and fun to learn. There are a ton of additional resources and tutorials on Adafruit.