[JesseK]

I would say I could help, but our team has used a C++ server on the robot for as long as I can remember - the client on the display was in Java. There are some 'tricks' to getting performance enhancements, but if you're going for full AI then you should focus on that specifically since that is by far the longest lead time to your goal.

I'd also recommend your robot be the server so you can control how often a client attempts re-connects at game time. You get 2-way comms if it's a TCP socket.