the multi form game piece idea would be cool, but it seems like it would be rather complicated to construct a game piece that can change its form. This would mean a possibility of only a few game pieces. Maybe the game pieces themselves wouldn't change, but rather they would be replaced with something else once scored
On autonomous mode: I agree that the whole point of not touching the controls is mainly to prove to the audience that, in fact, no one is moving the robot. It just gives it the one extra wow factor. I can see it being a problem with teams still scrambling at the controls during autonomous mode, but what if a penalty were to be inflicted if you were touching the controls, or even a 5 second period where the robots were disabled, and drivers had to get off within the 5 or so seconds?. there would really only need to be two or so judges to look at this, and I think after a while, teams would get used to it