I think I speak for many teams when I say that having a stranger handle our robots (option i) is something we’re still not really comfortable with. Yes, it should be easier for an untrained person to handle the robots, but accidents still happen and sorting out the liabilities would be a nightmare if the person that breaks the robot is not at least part of the team. Plus, as most cases where a robot can be removed are the robot malfunctioning, a person that has worked with the robot before and knows all its weird quirks will still be able to handle the robot safer in case of an emergency, compared to an untrained person.
The rules also already specify pretty clearly, when a robot can or cant be picked up, leaving very little room for a strategical pickup, if the rules are enforced. Currently a robot may only be picked up if it is either physically endangering a person, or visibly malfunctioning to a degree of incapability to play. A robot that localizes incorrectly must not be picked up by these rules. I agree, that it might make sense, to increase the penalty time (option iii), but I also think that it is most important to remind the referees of these rules and to correctly penalize robot handlers, if these rules are broken.