[Joe Ross]

I guess I have a different definition of being competitive. I consider it a competitive robot if the robot makes it into the top 8, or is one of the first 8 picked (at a smaller regional) or is picked at all (at a larger regional).

For that, all you need is a robot that reliably (90% +) does what it was designed to do. I can only think of 1 case in the last couple years where there was a task (other then driving) that if you did it reliably that you weren't one of the best teams there.