Keep Autonomous Mode! It's awesome... although it is hard for the code people I'm sure, it is also hard for the scouters. Autonomous mode has added a whole new factor for us scouters, but it makes the game much more interesting, and it's one of the easiest times to make an impact on another team (such as messing up their auto. mode :laughs evily: ;) ).

Anyways, keep the auto. mode!

I must say I disagree with you Joe. Making code work for controlling motors is maybe a one to two hour job at most. Where is the experience in that? And before this year teams made only one program, I'm guessing. This year we have 9. I say auton gives programmers good experience more in line with what would occur in the real world. In the real world, programmers make robots act like- well, robots. They take inputs from their environment and respond accordingly.

On burning out:
I did practically all the programming for my team, and though it exhausted me at times, I loved it! I was important! Anyway, aside from a slight caffeine addiction that sprang up during my programming sessions, I was fine.

The autonomous mode this year is a big thrill but also can be a big advantage for teams that do it well. I would like to see it stay but with some tweaks to help it level the playing field a little. Although, anyone who has been watching the regionals will tell you that teams still make it to the finals without full auto because there is still 00:01:45:00 of driver stick time before the end of the match.
I must agree with Joe on the safety issue in the pits. Auto isn't the only driving factor though. Teams need to be much more careful in the pits and we need to stress safety.(both in testing and in working on the robot. Stressing safety glasses in the pit is the first on the list.) Above all, teams need to remember to run tethered in the pit. We know that several teams tested in their pit without tether at each of the regionals we have attended. For the most part it was difficult to tell whether this caused any of the control errors seen on practice day or not. It is just a bad habit to get into.