[lukevanoort]

Although my team isn't at nats this year, we went last year. Although I agree that the announcements are hard to hear, remember the game's effect too. I don't know about other people, but I found most of the robots to be variations on the same basic designs this year. Many are conveyors on one end and shooters (or dumpers) on the other... most people are using a spinning something, or a trap door. (Yes, I am aware there are catapults, they just aren't very common) Last year, there was quite a large variety, you had bottom scorers, pneumatic elevators, motorized elevators, telescopers, thingys mounted on swivels, see-saws, hooks, grippers, so on. The big thing for me at nats was seeing the mass of varying technology that resulted from ~300 teams, some of which were already winners, this year the innovation seems to be more in the small, hard to see stuff and the control and less so in large amazing fast moving structures.