[sircedric4]

There was a toy I had as a kid that was called a Big Track. It was a toy tank that had a keypad in which you gave it a program to perform autonomously. Some sort of hand held easy computer with specific canned capabilities that plugs into the cRIO and programs it without other interfaces is the only way I can see EVERY team being able to do autonomous.

It may seem cold, underestimating the teams, but not every team can get an engineering or technical mentor, and not every team has students interested enough in computers to learn what they need to know to do autonomous. But this is a fact of life, that not everyone has the same resources and interests.

I think that FIRST is getting better at making autonomous modes that are worthy enough to pursue so that the challenge is there, but not so game breaking that only autonomous mode robots can win. I think keeping that balance is about all that can be expected.