[dhitchco]

Ya just gotta luv and admire the creativity of everyone responding. This thread has made my new year start off with a good laugh.

I concur with many of you who think that the "noodles" will become game pieces not obstacles...why?
safer and more lightweight than the tetras
industructable (lots of tetra repairs last year)
easy-to-source (less parts shortage for PVC pipes than last year)

I also consur with those of you who think that these game pieces might be stored in some sort of a "bowl" on the field where the robots have a "feeding frenzy" to grab the pasta noodles...what might eb interesting is individual competition, but with two appliance "home bowls" where 1,2,3, or even 4 teams could stash their retrieved noodles?

I also concur that "green mountains" might be carpeted & ELEVATED elements on the playing field; maybe even visualized by the camera during auto mode to climb a ramp of some sort? Auto mode MUST remain at the beginning of the round for all the reasons you have stipulated.

ps: Wal-Mart is already sold-out of swimming pool noodles.......ha, ha, just kidding. Wait until Sunday!