Dismay has provided us with some details and files for his robot, Pellet Mover, that he submitted for the recent contest. He's also provided LDD and program files (lxf and rbt) that can be downloaded and examined here (1MB file zipped).
From Dismay:
My pellet moving robot, pellet mover, uses two motors to accomplish what the Mercury Wire company needed. The assignment was to move an average of three pellets every two seconds from container A, to container B. The first motor rotates the turntable and the second motor drives the scoop that picks up the pellets. I used the fact that the pellets were only slightly smaller than the holes in a studless beam. I stacked three beams side by side and used the bottom peg hole on each to scoop up the pellets. The motor powers the scoop by rotating 90 degrees, pushing the scoop out into the pellet container. The turntable rotates 90 degrees and the scoop is pulled back in, releasing the pellets into the container. Congrats to all who participated in the contest, and thank you very much Dan, for such an interesting and fun contest.
NXTLOG submission: http://mindstorms.lego.com/nxtlog/ProjectDisplay.aspx?id=f241143f-7043-4a42-bc0c-c88ed328b2bf