Skatefriday... We crossed the Rubicon and converted batteries and charger to Anderson Powerpoles on Thursday.
Matt... Thinking about the static electricity issue made me realize
1. We have too much USB cable coiled up in the bottom of our robot. We will get a shorter one from USB Stuff, maybe with right-angle ends for strain relief and put some ferrite chokes on the cable.
http://www.usbstuff.com/cables.html
2. Wonder if the NXT and USB cable's close proximity to one of our drive motors could be causing an induced current noise spike in the cable as the motor is turned off and on.