[edthegeek]

My musings on this.
A series of IR "keys" would be given to each team. 4 keys, one per LED. The keys are unique to each team.
The interaction with the field would go as follows. There are four stations that contain whatever game piece we will be playing with this year.We use our four keys to unlock one of these stations, one per station. The stations then release the game pieces and a set number of points are awarded to a team for unlocking a station.
This also releases game elements that can be used by either alliance to score (makes alliances balance threats and opportunities). The alternate strategy is totally shutting out the other alliance from reaching a station, thus preventing them from scoring anything, and then unlocking a station yourself.
This uses the relatively short distance of IR to its advantage. It forces teams to actually get close to the station instead of trying to unlock a station from long distance.