[Tom Line]

You hit it on the head when you said novelty.

The kinect is a resource-intensive platform that introduces 1/4 second or more lag into a situation where lag is unacceptable. Many autonomous routines pack in as much action as possible - for instance shooting, driving to the bridge, picking up balls, driving back, and shooting again. Add in the inherent lag and the potential problems with the kinect and it's no surprise teams didn't use it. It's also one more thing to develop for when we're already stretched for time.

I'm certain they can find an auto where it would be useful - for instance unlit, uncolored, impossible to track moving targets that the robots have to put something in would be an example. In a situation where starting and end points are known and targets do not move, the kinect is not worthwhile.