I just had an idea......
3d animation that takes weeks to model and 3 days with 20 computers to generate is great and all, but what if there was a competition to do this in real time and be interactive? It wouldn't even have to be 3d or if a team wanted they could use pseudo-3d. It could be judged on difficulty, quality, performance, creativity, etc, and would be a great way to show off one's robot (excellent for teams that hand out CDs at competitions.....they could put it on there).
If they used 3d they could provide a code base that would set up an OpenGl window, load a model file and allow the user to "walk" around it as "default code" so that people wouldn't have to start from scratch. Basically, it would be the animation, only interactive and cooler
Oh, and for the people that feel that this may frighten off beginners, think of this: so might the animation competition. This idea would still provide a place to begin , and someone with only a little experience COULD come up with something to submit, but obviously the more experienced programmers (or in the case of animation, animators) will have a leg up on the competition, but thats life.
On the up side, it would attract some very good programmers to become interested in FIRST, as they would have more to contribute to the team than some PBASIC code (which is just that.....basic, it can be frustrating but not exactly a real challenge in my opinion).
*steps off soap box* just a thought, I might just have my head in the clouds, (it does sound a bit complex) but it would be really kewl
feedback and constructive criticism, as always, is appreciated.