Somewhere down the line, somebody proposed the "5" having do to something with "Take Five". Take Five was recorded by the The
Dave Brubeck Quartet in '59 on "Time Out". If you don't know jazz, I just totally confused you. If you do, you should know what I'm talking about.
Here's the
Wikipedia link to it.
Take Five was special in that it was done in a 3-2 meter, with the driving piano rhythm going "1-2-3 1-2" the whole way through the song, rather than a 1-2-3-4-5 pattern. Hmmm, sounds remarkably like a backbot, does it not? Perhaps the asymmetry of the "manhole" also represents this unbalance.
"Time Out" could mean anything, from "no time left" to "sitting out for a bit". Perhaps the backbot this year really is crippled (stranded in water!), unlike last year where it could gather ammunition? What about rolling disables, where instead of all robots being disabled at once at the end of the match, each team has one robot disabled in the order of their choice 5 seconds apart?
I didn't bother to search it, but perhaps this 1-2-3 1-2 rhythm could tie into the red, green and blue lights? (I'm the programmer, and I've been losing sleep over that since Atlanta).
mmmmm... I could go for a banana....