I too doubt the game will ever become fully automated, for sheer complexity and slowness. 2 minutes is not nearly enough for a fully automated robot to do some of the complex games FIRST has come up with before.
As for this years autonomous- well, I believe it will be a huge challenge on the programmers of every team, as well as the builders. I can simply see our robot falling off of our plywood ramp!
However, I will reserve judgement on the whole autonomous mode until I see how well FIRST enacts it. Afterall- we can't have another kickoff-like accident!
