[mathking]

I teach high computer science, and we have used the RidgeSoft IntelliBrain robots in class, which are programmed in Java.

Aside from the exception handling which has been mentioned, I would absolutely add event handling. Programming multiple sensors with the IntelliBrain (which has a MUCH more limited processor than the cRIO) is easy because of the way Java handles events. When I first learned Java (when the AP CS course moved from C++ to Java) the event and exception handling were among the first really cool things I noticed about Java.

As for speed, I agree with gblake. It really depends on how you compile the code Running robots in the standard JVM would be slow. But I have written plenty of programs for OS X using XCode to compile Cocoa native applications for the Macintosh, and they run just as fast as Objective-C programs.

As for tools, there may be a relative lack of robot specific libraries for Java, but there are some. Mindstorms and the aforementioned IntelliBrain robots can be programmed in Java. There are other platforms that use Java as well.

The biggest thing to remember is that this is an addition. You don't have to use Java if you don't want to. But it will open up programming to more students, because Java is the language most will have learned in their HS computer science classes.