I don't know why it gets any special advantages at all.
It should have to physically push a buzzer.
Being able to control a small servo from a computer is really no great feat is it? Have you heard of automated garage doors?
... and a printer with comic sans makes this more impressive, how?
Also, it should have to watch the board itself.
Realtime OCR has been done on computers with much less CPU power. See Word Lens.
It should have no electronic linkages to any outside information.
It has to be able to parse the physical environment of Jeopardy, and interact with the physical environment of Jeopardy (At least while the show it running, it doesn't have to enter or leave under its own power.)
Until then, it's not really 'playing Jeopardy', is it?
All the other elements to playing Jeopardy can be easily solved. These guys are handling language processing. That is no small feat in itself. Try RTFA. It helps to appreciate what was done here.