[Jared Russell]

I think you guys are jumping the gun big time. Assuming they put the USB hub, E stop, and I/O breakout into a single, well-designed enclosure, what's the big deal? How many teams don't mount the operator controls to a nice piece of lexan, plywood, or something else?

As far as startup time, the clamshell PC boots from a solid state flash disk and usually runs a stripped down Linux distribution - we're talking 15-20 seconds, tops. (Though if they make us run Windows XP, I will cry.)

So what are the advantages of this arrangement? To some extent, it all hinges on what aspects of the Classmate they let you utilize. But here's my stab:

1) The clamshell has built-in WiFi. We could potentially eliminate the need for a router.

2) The clamshell has a battery. Hauling AC adapters around to demos has gotten pretty old.

3) The clamshell has audio playback, a microphone, and an optional camera. There is opportunity for innovation here. Imagine a game where in "autonomous" mode you could talk to or gesture to your interface without touching buttons.

4) The clamshell is much more capable a computer than even the cRIO. If they let you write code for it, you can suddenly offload some complicated (computer vision) tasks.

5) Every team now has access to a sort of dashboard app without having to pony up their own laptop. This helps not only the teams, but also potentially FTAs and staff to troubleshoot problems from the driver stations.

6) Lastly, it says the clamshell has a water resistant keyboard. Perfect for dealing with all of the splashing from next years' water game.