[KenWittlief]

simply from the potential points perspective, getting the release ball to drop, and then getting those 18 balls on the floor can get your team the most points for doing 'one' thing - herding the small balls.

you can get 18*5 = 90 points just for doing that, if your human player can toss them in your goal

and since there are 6 freebee balls behind the wall when you start, thats another 30 points. So you would have a potential score of 120

all you need to knock the release ball over is a pneumatic cylinder - If your programmers can get you in the right spot in auton mode, that should be a piece of cake.

To gather the balls off the floor and get them to the human player, you could build a base frame using the transmissions that first gave you - one wheel on each side - like the one on the kickoff video - and have a plow shape on the front to push balls across the floor.

you will want to do some testing on this - pushing the balls with a pole or piece of alum is not trivial - you have to have your 'plow' the right shape and push the balls in the right spot, or your robot will try to climb over them, or they will get wedged infront and you wont be able to move at all.

If you get that working, and have time left, you might make something like a jousting pole that springs out, or unfolds with a pneumatic cylinder, for knocking the 2X ball off your goal (so you can toss balls in it)

or another simple addon would be a hook for snagging the lip on the portable goal, so you can drag it closer to your human player.

and dont forget, this game is not a race against the clock - its 2 teams playing against 2 teams - you can come up with some defensive strategies, to get in your opponets bot 'face' and keep them from scoring more points than you.