[Salik Syed]

I don't see what the big need for an "embedded device" is ... why limit our selves to using chips that were designed for controlling microwaves? The way I see it the only thing these types of chips should be doing is communicating low-level data -- PWM values, sensor inputs etc.

It makes sense to use these chips if you have a very small robot or a flying robot that cannot wirelessly communicate to a master processor, and needs a computer which is light weight and low on power consumption. The robots we build for FIRST do not fall into this category. We can slap a laptop onto a FIRST bot very easily ...2-3 lbs extra is marginal, battery consumption is also very low.
It would be nice to be able to do more object oriented programming instead of having to deal with simple low level constructs. It would open a whole new world of possibilities.