Not that you all can't figure this out, but FIRST really did an awsome job of listening to the comments here.
Different playing surface (fake-ice was brought up) : Carpet, mesh, and a 'fake-ice' surface.
Different levels: Ramp
Automatic robot control: First 15 seconds (They hinted with the sensors last year)
No more balls: Containers
Better scoring: Well... um... it's much easier to see at a quick look what's happening.
Easy for rookies to do something, but hard for vets too: Last year, unless you were steel w/ tons of power, you wouldn't win. Here, even just a robot that can move can do quite a bit. But... for those who want the 'problem' they can find useful things to do with crates. + Automatic robot control
At first, i didn't know if i liked it or not. But... I'd have to say that this is BY-FAR the best game. It still will have 'contact' between bots, has BOTH offencive and defencive (sp?), AND...
No more balls!
Only bad thing: Now... when i describe what our robot does to a non-firster, I have to say that it stackes boxes