I like the cage for a few reasons.

It really is no fun getting the robots built and sorted out, driving all the way to an event to get dumped out in every fight and having a grand total of thirty seconds driving. The cage means that at least we get to compete a bit more, drive a bit more and try out to see what works and what doesnt. Even in the case of Beast vs Hydra (which went very badly from our point of view) it gave us chance to see what needed bolting down a bit more, what broke and what didnt. Probably good for the crowd too.

It means that robots have to become more reliable because the fights are lasting longer.

One thing I would say is that for roboteers the viewing angles are very poor. Those areas which have good viewing angles generally are full of people intent on watching the fight and it can be difficult to get a spot around these areas. Maybe a sensible solution to this is to create the driving position at the entrance doors where you just have Pete and drivers. This also means that if there is a problem Pete can instruct people rather than calling Stu to call cease. It wasnt a problem with Cylon catching fire but it did take a while between Pete asking and cease being called.

Andy