Perhaps an interesting way to implement the challenge would be to build it in as part of the Breakaway game simulation.
There are several "competitive coding" games of this nature... a simple one that I use to teach PIC assembly language is called PicBots, but there are many more complex ones. A list of some is at
http://www.google.com/Top/Games/Vide...ames/Robotics/ I've used CRobots3D and AI Wars with junior students as a programming introduction.
The advantage, of course, is that the robots can compete in an ideal environment and can access all kinds of expensive "sensors", and the programmer can have access to the "robot" 24 hours/day at basically no cost.
Once the algorithms are worked out in the simulated environment, then they could be ported to a robot for real. Kind of like building a robot in CAD before cutting out the parts.
The added advantage, of course, is that by developing an AI for the Breakaway game simulation, it would be possible to play the game with fewer than 6 people.
Jason