BASIC. Everybody can learn it in 10 minutes (slight exaggeration). Nobody gains an advantage from having mastered some other intricate language. Non-programmers

BASIC. Everybody can learn it in 10 minutes (slight exaggeration). Nobody gains an advantage from having mastered some other intricate language. Non-programmers can play too. Or, since it's for robots, why not consider a new minimalist language specifically for the competition. That way it's more about strategy instead of solving programming problems. It's tailored specifically to robot capabilities with nothing to distract or confuse.