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About 4000 years ago some guy realized that it was alot easier to move something using a wheel. To this day there is still no better way of moving something than the wheel. 99% of teams use wheels because there simply the best. There have been many FIRST "inventions" at one point in FIRST history the rotating-wheel, delphi-drive, was a new and amazing thing. Omni wheels where once new. Walking bots would be great but they are slow and a biped would be highly unstable. A few years ago a combiner drive train was nearly unheard of then a 2 motor combiner slowly became popular and now there are a few 3 motor combined drives.
This thread so far has only focused on drive trains but there are also the so called "boxes". The use of materials is very generic. Many bots are 80-20 frames with lexan shells for a reason, its fast and reliable. There are innovaters here as well. If you asked about 8020 at Nats 6 years ago people wouldn't have a clue. There once was a team who built a bot of almost entirely lexan. There are new innovations this year with materials. Both 45 and 229 use expanding foam in there wings. In the early seasons teams had very short arms but they slowly grew as teams found lighter and stronger materials and construction methods.
My point is coming up with a totally revolutionary idea is very hard to bring to life. Every year there a few new ideas, and over the course of a few years those new ideas become the norm. If you take a look at the bots of each years competion is succesion you will see a pretty clear evolution.
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