How difficult do you feel this competition is, this year?

[Ian Curtis]

This game is weird. It's simultaneously the hardest game I've ever seen, AND the easiest. If you move (which, probably 99.9% of all FIRST robots have) you can score points. If you can write a few simple lines of code setting two motors to move forward, and have a reasonably true drivetrain, you can score important autonomous points. This is great! Games have never been so open. If you can stop in three foot target area and raise up a stick, you can score MAJOR autonomous points. This hasn't happened before.

But, lurking on the other side, is hurdling. Seriously. It's hard. Really hard. Once you get your field mockups up, try doing it by hand. It took me a little over 20 seconds as a human. FRC robots can't even touch our dexterity in dealing with large objects. Hurdling is darn near impossible.

I'm willing to bet that worldwide, no more than 20 robots will average 2 hurdles per match.

I think, this year the GDC over-succeeded (either that or they decided to get back at everyone who complains at how easy the games are) This game IS very, very accessable to small teams. It's also great for teams who have a lot of manpower to design, build and test. But I'm not convinced it's so great for the in between team. However, I could quite easily be proven wrong. We'll see if teams are up for the challenge.