Robots are fun, my first run I played Bobs (yes, it was crazy to do that on my first playthrough) so I got bots before the launch IIRC and had a blast with my hugely efficient setup. On later runs I tried for a train-block setup with each "block" having something like 4 roboports that didn't overlap with the block next to it so that you wouldn't have robots traveling across the whole map, they would each be localized. They add a fun challenge and even with these new improvements in their pathing I think there will still be advantages to breaking up your logicisical networks.
Robots are easy though, and borderline op since they can surpass the flow limit of stack inserter, making the slowest item movement be only when loading/unloading train.
They don’t scale well though. In bigger bases items are measured in train loads, and bots can’t keep up in terms of throughput or power consumption. Building a tiny bot-only cell is still fun though!
It's been a while since I've done the math, but a solid line of roboports moves fewer items than 4 blue belts (which takes up the same amount of space), IIRC. And if you've got fewer roboports than a solid line of roboports, it moves even less throughput.
Probably the only time it's hard to beat robots is when you have something like a megatrain unload station--it's extremely difficult to squeeze more than two blue belts per wagon (one belt per wagon per side) without robots, and there's no need to balance belts with bots.
