We are in our last week in the New England District, a somewhat controlled population.
I have always enjoyed watching the game evolve over the season as strategies are developed and understanding is achieved.
We used to put the Robot in a crate and could only improve it on Thursdays and tweak it during Friday and Saturday competitions.
With the introduction of a withholding allowance and district Robot Access Period:
5.6 "Robot Access Period" I think there are substantial improvements. You can build mechanisms within your withholding allowance and beta test them if you have a second prototype Robot.
Not exactly empirical, but
Week One:
Waterbury Top: 66 #8 seed: 51 Median: 43 Bottom: 28 (and they were on the winning alliance!)
Granite State Top: 90 #8 seed: 46 Median: 42 Bottom: 25
Week Five:
Northeastern Top: 148 #8 seed: 95 Median: 78 Bottom: 50 (and they were on the winning alliance!)
Hartford (through 57/80 matches) Top: 127 #8 seed: 95 Median: 83 Bottom: 63
There a still weak matches, but, as usual, the game is becoming more interesting.