[lukevanoort]

I don't think anyone is proposing building your robot with this as its sole purpose. If your [mechanism] breaks and you're up against a couple of good hurdlers, this might be a very useful strategy in your repertoire. You could drive in circles for a couple points a lap, or you could pin the ball and reduce one of your opponents' scoring ability from ten points per lap down to two. That seems like a useful backup strategy to me.