I think the GDC is a fan of the Everybot team. This game is one of the most accessible to low level teams that I can remember.
In Charged Up, a team with nothing more than a drivetrain, and a single actuator that enables “ground control”* of game objects has 9 locations to score, and can get 75% of the way to a Ranking Point (3 Links including Co-Op which reduces the threshold to 4). Between Links and scoring locations, this simple robot can score 33 points through cycling and an additional 10 points with skilled driving on the Charge Station.
A ceiling of 43 points between teleop and end game isn’t going to stop being effective until well into the competition season.
I would strongly encourage teams to build a dead simple “ground control” mechanism and prioritize driver practice above all else.
*Picture a bucket on a hinge with a single actuator that can pivot down to encapsulate Cones/Cubes while they’re sitting on the ground. You can then just slide them wherever you want with full control over them without the need for a precise intake system.
Even with more advanced strategies, this still pans out. Teams with a robot like the one you described could easily feed a robot with more scoring capabilities for an even stronger alliance. This could make an initially weaker alliance more balanced.
You are selling this idea short, this robot will never stop being effective.
By the time we get to champs any game pieces left in the middle of the field after auto are going to be treated like the garbage cans in 2015. A low cg simple ground intaking robot that we can work with to have an auto that ends right near the middle line will be top of my 2nd pick list.
Ferrying game pieces especially those dropped on the ground is going to be effective all year. A less ridiculous version of the robot shown in this post with a top to the box will be the terror of late season.
For a slightly more sophisticated but still very simple bot, you could have a drop-down claw intake (a roller claw or something similar) that could grab pieces from either the single substation or the floor elsewhere, lift them up (because pushing them may be less effective than many people think) and carry them across the field to either score low or feed an alliance partner. This is only one step above a pancake bot but well within the capabilities of low-level teams. We saw a number of bots like this be very effective all season in 2018 (Power Up) and they could be again. They could still do a lot of scoring, including in auto, and be built small enough to make it practical to be the third robot on the charging station in endgame.
I don’t think it would be crazy for an incredibly effective low bot to be picked 1-4 at world’s. At the highest level the goal is gonna be max outs, you get 7 pieces in auto that should likely just go low for speed then 18 high slots and 2 more low slots. If you could manage a consistent 18+ cross field piece delivery trips and a 3 piece/1p piece+balance auto, balance in endgame(as a bonus you could potentially orient the cones nicely), I feel as an alliance captain that’s confident in my piece placement that’s a no brainier pick. The robot I’m describing is definitely more complex than a drivetrain and a claw, but not especially so. It would likely need a higher up claw on a pivot so the robot never has to turn around and an intake to grab cones and balls faster(and orient cones potentially), but that’s it. Seems like it could be an Everybot design. If the claw is high enough it could potentially place pieces on the second level so it’s not even reliant on a placement bot.