i haven't used this perk yet, and I'm wondering how useful/useless it is.

outside of using it against mr. house's robots (which you really don't have to fight), i can't see very much use for it in other scenarios?

Invest heavily in sneak skill to use this perk effectively.

I fell in love with Robotics Expert in Fallout 3 after getting the Chinese Stealth armor. But it got lame and boring after awhile.

It isn't worth it unless you either:

A. Want to easily kill Mr. House.
B. Want to easily kill every Securitron on the Strip.
C. Want to disable the turrets in the Hidden Valley Bunker to make things easier if you decide to destroy the Brotherhood Of Steel.

If you don't plan on doing any of those, then the perk is worthless. Even if you do, it isn't really worth it. Unlike Fallout 3, there are pretty much no robots just wandering the wasteland, and if there are, I certainly haven't encountered any. There are a few buildings in the wasteland that will have robots you might want to deactivate but there aren't enough buildings like those to really justify getting the perk.

Edit: Added spoiler tags.

Agreed (although specific locations should have been spoiler'd).

There's just not that many rogue robots wandering the wastes, unless you go mad-dog on the strip's Securitrons. Even then, the EMP weapons like the Pulse Mine and Pulse Grenade do a fairly good job at dealing death to all things robotic. Couple that with the issue that it's lackluster perk at only +25% damage and it's just not that good. Easier to stock up on more Pulse Grenades and go about it that way.

It's not useful and the +25% dmg isn't useful either. Minor spoiler: if you do the brotherhood of steel minichain you can get a anti-robot weapon. Does MAssive dmg to electronic enemies making that perk useless.

I would take it if I was making a mad scientist type build, but no its not very useful.

Two things:

1. Kind of useless if you have a Pulse Gun.

2. To the person who mentioned a certain character in conjunction with this perk: THANKS FOR THE SPOILERS IN THE GENERAL DISCUSSION FORUM.

The weapon you're referring to isn't quest exclusive.

It wasnt worth it in Fallout 3 and robot enemies were much more common there.

True, but didn't want to give too many spoilers.

In Fallout3 I think this perk also provided possible extra dialogue options with robots (much like Lady Killer did with the ladies), which made it worth it in my opinion. Plus there were a lot more robots to fight in that game.

There is one place in the game where you can stumble across a group of 4 (temporarily) friendly Sentry Bots and disable them using this perk. Of course, the game also provides you with a handful of Pulse Grenades in a nearby room that will do the job just as easily.

The perk is usefull in a few dialogue options with the few robots you can talk to. But the interactions with robots in FONV are far and few inbetween. However I could see real use for this perk if an Area 51 type DLC were released.

There are some interiors that have a lot of high-end robots in them, and in these locations it's quite handy. In terms of overall percentage of foes faced you probably won't fight that many robots, however the ability to not have to fight the ones you do run into is quite valuable even though you aren't using it on every third or fourth opponent during your peregrinations across the Mojave.

I almost always take it ASAP, however I do not use VATS and thus have several 'extra' perk picks compared to those who do. Many builds simply won't have room for it, but if you can make a slot you should probably take it as high-end robots can be a real pain unless you have been stocking up on Pulse weaponry. Even then Sentry Bots are still a pain, and the extra damage can save a lot of grief when taking them down.

There aren't nearly as many robots in the Wasteland to warrant using it for builds with adequate gun skills. For those without combat skills it can be very useful.

Comes in handy at Helios