[Bongle]

Ugh... I always dislike these threads because past hints have always been so far from what the game ended being, or being hoaxes. It is so easy to think of theories that are fully justified but end up being completely off the mark.

But... I have my own theory:

The colors of the cable remind me of Dave's pre-finals speech at the 06 championship where he made like the vision targets were going to change colours from green->red->blue throughout the einstein matches. The various CMD[0..3] LCDs could indicate the current colour that it is driving. Since there appears to be nothing that appears to connect to the RC, I'd say this is a field element control piece. The IR receiver looks exactly like the ones we had on 2004, so perhaps we have to beam IR at a field element.

It will probably lie flat somewhere low (1-3 ft off the ground). I get this because the IR receiver points upwards at a slight angle if you lie it flat, which would allow it to receive IR from a robot-mounted source. I'm guessing it isn't upside down because it would have to be so high that you wouldn't easily be able to see what mode it is in.

Here's a complete theory, good and precise so I'll look kinda dumb when the truth comes out:
-Teams all received this piece early so that they can begin constructing the field element for their practice field, details of which will be put up on the frc_decgift site soon. The field element will respond to IR emissions to cycle through modes (possibly colour related, judging by the rainbow cable), which will be indicated on the front to judges or teams via the LEDs. These modes will change some form of action on the field, which will be revealed at the kickoff.