The Flaming Chickens design and hosts the fall BunnyBots competition every year in our Portland, OR area (although we've had teams come from other states as well). Here is a link to last year's rules (
http://www.oregonfirst.org/events/bu...bunnybot-2011/), and also some video clips of the final matches from last year (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gX5szIwyvQ) so you can get a better idea of what it is we do. Last fall we had 22 teams participate, which is an exciting increase from it's 3-robot start 5 years ago.
BunnyBots is basically a way for rookie teams (and new members on established teams, and also veteran members on established teams - basically anyone!) to get more experience building a fully-functional FRC-style robot for a pre-season competition in a more relaxed setting and a longer time span: about 12 weeks. That way everyone has more experience to contribute during build season; it's also just a fantastic amount of fun. 1540 alumni design the rules every year, and they're always great for both rookie teams and veteran teams to explore (e.g. last year was a mashup of capture the flag with stuffed animal bunnies, and Nerf dart tag additionally).
Right now the only BunnyBots around is that which we host in Portland, but it would be awesome if it got started up in other places as well. It's a significant endeavor, but it's immensely rewarding for us and the teams that participate, and we've designed it so it's fairly easy to replicate (we hope) with the right planning.
So let me know if that sounds interesting and/or if you have any questions, and I and all of 1540 would be happy to help spread the BunnyBots love.