This reminds me of a short story I read way back when...
Whats wrong with raising the bar? With all these new COTs items coming out lately and all these RI3Ds starting up, I feel as if you'd have to live under a rock to not be able to score.
Robot in Three Days can be used however you want to use it - As an inspiration, a guide, a strategy-check, or totally ignored. Leave it to the individual teams. Like someone said earlier, seeing a team go from just barely driving around in '12 to hanging, shooting, and getting picked in elims in '13 using RI3D concepts must be an awesome feeling for the students on that team.
I don't see what it hurts.