[MrJohnston]

It's going to be five or six at the highest levels.. Most likely, all bins will be scored on tall stacks in these matches. So, it would seem the tallest stacks are best... However, as robots cannot be taller than 6'6" and a bin on top of six totes will almost entirely be above the maximum robot height: A stack of 6 totes is just over 6' and needed to be lifted at least 2" to place them in a scoring zone. This leaves a whopping 4" of recycling bin below the robot height limit.

This introduces a challenging engineering problem. Do you find a way to grab the bottom few inches of a bin? Or, do you rely on a very smooth riding robot and a skillful enough driver to not "bump" anything? I have not yet fully solved this "difficulty." However, it could very well be that for nearly every (every?) robot it is so much more efficient to maximize stacks at 5 totes and a bin...

Of course, you then have to ask the value of taking a moment to stick pool noodles into the recycling bins...