(With lots of help from thefro526) This Kansas City regional's looking pretty deep. Mind if I do a bit of prediction?
135, 1208, 525, and 868 are all solid teams that have shown flashes of greatness while staying a bit under the radar. They could tip an already solid alliance.
1730 is a very professional team that's always been solid both on field and "on Chairman's". They should be in contention for both at Kansas City, and while they haven't shown their 2010 hand, they've built a swerve before, and a surgical tubing trackball shooter before... Perhaps these are the pieces they put together? Maybe they'll look to repeat their alliance with 1625?
1986 has always built ridiculous and cool machines, and this year they've got an interesting wide robot that should be more of a factor than either of their previous endeavors.
Any other year,
1806 would be the absolute favorite. They've never seen less than the Regional Finals in Kansas City, and the last time they didn't win the event was their rookie year. But this year, there's a
lot of out of town talent coming to town. As for their machine, 1806’s machine looks to be really strong this year. They’ve got a kicker with a HUGE cam that’s got some range to it. Pair them with a decent striker and they’ll be tough to beat.
Bomb Squad has been kicking butt the last two years, and
16's bringing back their now-trademark three wheel swerve for this year. In a year where many teams will be going with omni directional drives for the first time, 16’s experience with them will show greatly, especially in an event not known for them (until this year).
234 is a powerhouse year in and year out. This year is no different. They have more experience with the Wild Swerve than the tons of teams using the modules this year, which could prove advantageous. Expect their swerving kicking machine to play well into the afternoon.
They've won 5 regionals in 5 years, earned the #1 seed at the Championship twice, and came out on top of half of the IRIs they've ever attended.
1625 shows no signs of slowing after their 2009 season, pulling the best parts of their previous robots all together into their 2010 endeavor. Their 6 wheel swerve drive is completely unprecedented in FRC. 1625 in the finals is a safe bet.