1) Hearding the balls and getting them to the human player, is certainly the most important. I personally also think the 2x ball is key, but unless you have the 5-point balls in the goals, the 2x ball is worthless by itself.
2) Hmm.... Hanging on the bar is not going to be easy. Not for the fact, that the pole is 10ft high (most of us can get past that), but because there will be blocking strategies, and moreover, if a robot is planning to hang on the bar, it certainly would want to devote the last 40 secs of the game so that it can successfully hang, which in my opinion, is a lot of time.
3) I liked the bins better. Reason- They were easier to control, to push atleast. The balls this year are so bouncy. A slight hit, and they go rolling away, which is an advantage when they are rolling in the direction of the chute, but when they are not....
