Let’s start a thread to think about the wining robot(s) in each of our regionals. Put a lot of thought into it. Everyone post one feature or function you think not “a” winning robot will have but what “the” winning robot will have. Hopefully when this thread gets a couple pages long everybody might rethink their designs a little bit. 
Good partners.
The most important feature of the winning robot will be it’s ability to effortlessly cap the tall goal with a vision tet in automode, faster than anyone else so they don’t have problems with fighting over the same goal. Doing so gives this bot a cool 9 points and 3 different places to get a row all before the end of automode. With this excellent start there is no stopping it!
I think a winning bot will have an outstandingly efficient autonomous mode, and the ability to manipulte tetras quickly throughout autonomous mode. Speed and agility will also be paramount.
Wheels. 
At this point, who can tell what it will take to win? We’ll see in a few more months…
I have a few words to say about this. First thing the teams need is a kickn’ arm. Second, is a powerful drivebase. Third, is LUCK…tons of luck. And lastly, have good/great alliance partners. I think we will see a lot of the same “concepts” in drivebases and arm’s but each teams will have their pros’ and cons’. Good luck to all teams!
-Kyle
The winning teams will have a very good coach.
Wetzel
good fundmentals (Powerful Drive Train, Superb Chassis Design, Manueverablility, and Autonomous)
A coach with knowledge in game theory who can apply it on the fly. It’s my opinion that it really doesn’t matter how great the robot is. Even simple push bots could win if their coach knows where to send the drivers.
The winning robot will have experienced drivers who work together.
I’d have to agree with the previous posters who’ve said it. It will be a very quick thinking, strategic coach that can keep track of the ownership of goals and communicate efficiently with the drivers and human player of not only their own team, but perhaps even their alliance’s teams to communicate a shift in strategy.
The winning robot will have a team that has thought of a lot of defensive and offensive strategies for itself to use and to counter-react w/opponents strategies in both best and worst case scenarios. This includes autonomous as well as human driving. A “little bit” of scouting might be of assistance
Versatility. A winning robot will need to be able to shift strategies between matches based on their allies/opponents.
You can’t get very far without capping or some sort of tet manipulation. The best you could do is repeatedly pin all the other bots preventing them from doing anything, and then make it to the endzone in time for the 10 point bonus. And then your seed would suck.
Good Programming i think, if you can get it to do a lot of things in autonomous mode then the rest of the game will be defensive.
The ability to quickly load and store multiple tetras on the robot.
–Petey
I think the winnning robot will have MOE green paint (and not to cheat and distract the sensors) j/k
I think it will have to have a good strategy for its desigin, if it is a blocker bot then it must be able to block more then one bot at a time or multible goals, if it is a capper bot then it must have a way to get around the blocker bots.
who says you cant have a unicycle robot? or a hovercraft, or a tracked, or a …well ill save these for another thread.
the winning robot will have drivers/coaches/hp with decent amount of sleep the night before
its going to be a box with a stick on it.
a great and durable drive base with an excellent driver/operator duo.
also great luck with alliances and just plain old luck on the field!