Head mentor for team 1404 in Toronto here =) I'm also a coordinating member of an organization at the University of Toronto that connects students and faculty members to local FIRST teams. Its a great competition, and I'm really with what Dean says when he wants to give every student the opportunity to participate if they want to. I didn't have the chance to when I went through high school. Instead I did my best and participated in other local competitions that were on a much smaller scale.

Anyway, on topic, I'm not so much a fan of this year's game. I really liked the game two years ago (Rack N Roll) and I feel even last year's game had more opportunity for an exceptional design. I see most of the impact for many matches is going to be from the human players, and I really believe that that is a step backwards. On the flip side, the core values they're trying to put into the games this year are great. I find that there is a lot less opportunity this year to engineer an entirely custom robot, which will hopefully level the playing field for teams that are not as well funded or "supported" by mentors (it always bugs me at the competition when I see two adults working on the robot and 25 kids standing around watching them).

I like that they have raised the bar and made the electronics system a lot more complicated. Its a shame, but the electronics in the robots in my University's undergraduate robotics group are not nearly as advanced as the system they've given the FIRST teams. However, it is a great step in the right direction and will push the envelope down the line, and the students that work with these electronics will want to use more cutting edge technology in their future projects.

.dk