[sciencenerd]

I believe that whether bumpers come back another year or not depends on how much contact has been designed into the game next year. I think the main reason the GDC allowed them this year was because they were able to see that there would be a lot of robot collisions one way or another (compared, for example to last year) and knew something had to be done to minimize damage. If next year's game is anywhere close to as big on defense, the bumpers will probably be back. If not, I doubt they will be kept.