[EricH]

I was thinking (dangerous I know) that it would be possible for the minibots to either have a tower contact button or a "you're on your own" dead-man switch, and just be running a program all match that said, wait until X switch toggles to the other position. Minimal programming needed. Or have the NXT in a standard-ish area so a servo mounted on a "flexible" arm could hit the run button easily.