Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

We were having this conversation at our shop, and we were wondering who would be the top 3 bots in every state for this year.

I picked 67, 469, and 548 as my top 3 picks for Michigan. What would be your picks?

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I would say Florida's would be 180, 233, 1592.

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In my area if new york it would have to be 1507 340 and 1511...

I dont know for say many of the teams in the new York city Area though.

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PA I'd have to say 341, 1218, 365 with 222 as a close 4th or tie.

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I'd say 1507, 340, 191.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Lots of good ones. Based on the bots I saw in person. 118, 624, & 1477. Only went to Lonestar so I'm sure there were other great ones at the other regionals that I'm leaving out.

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NJ- 25, 1676, and 2590 with 2016 as runner ups.

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For Georgia, I give you 2415, 1311, and 1771.

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For California, I vote 1717, 973 and then 254/1538 about tied.

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For Kansas I'd have to go 935, 1108, and 1710.

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I really like 1538, but I think 254 certainly whoops them this year. 254 Was the #1 pick over some good teams in their division, and put up the highest score this year. 1538 was still good, but not as good.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

#1: 1540: Flaming Chickens
This thing did awesome at their Pacific Northwest regionals and at Oklahoma. The team made without a doubt in my mind the best robot to come out of Oregon this year, and one that even stands up to some of the best from Washington.

#2: 2898/1510: Flying Hedgehogs/Wildcats
Both did well at Portland, and each individually rocked a different Seattle field. The design was consistent as well as versatile, and I also have to give big kudos to how well they stood out visually.

#3: 2733: Pigmice
Video included because they're the only design on my list that didn't go to World's this year, and I think more people outside of OR/WA should see this robot. It's a wonderful idea and I think they did a great job with it.

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Based on Ed Law's Worldrank, for OH, it would be 48 (31), 3138 (50), and 379 (51). I'd put 3193 in that 379 range as well.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Is this a question of the best robotics teams, meaning robot performance and more, or purely robot performance?

Best robotics teams in Indiana this year:
234
461
1024
Honorable Mentions: 45, 868, 1501

Best robots in Indiana this year:
234
829
3487
Honorable Mentions: 71, 1646, 3940

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

For Illinois, I would have to say 111, 2949, and 1625.

I think 148 needs to be included in this list. They were finalists at their first regional, and won their next 2. Although they didn't have a great outcome at championships, they still went 7-2 in qualifications.

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I would agree with this, based off Peachtree. (Full disclosure: We played with 1311 and 1771 in eliminations there, and I am a registered fan of 2415.)

For South Carolina, the two obvious standouts for me were 1319 (two silvers and a semifinals at regionals) and 343 (two silvers making for four events in a row going back to 2011).

I feel the third spot has to go to a team that brought home gold, and that's a surprisingly short list this year: 281 and 2815, both at Palmetto, the latter the backup for the former. We both got out in the quarters at our other events (Peachtree for us, North Carolina for them), and neither of us got out of qualification rounds in St. Louis. I personally hate tooting my own horn, so do your homework and draw your conclusions.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Had the opportunity to compete in both regionals in Missouri this year. Here is what I observed.

#1: 1986

#2: 3528

#3: 1985

A lot of great teams attended the two Missouri regionals from out of state as well. Both regionals are on opposite state borders.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR PROVINCE
 

So as you may notice i made mine to Province instead...

Ontario:
1. 2056 - never lost a regional EVER, 3 Golds this year, and Division Winners
2. 1114 - World Chairmen's, 2 Gold medal's, and Division winners
3. 610 - 1 Gold, 1 Silver

Honorable Mentions:
188 - Great robots every year
1503 - also amazing robots, and could pickup from the ground this year :O!

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Best robots in CA while competing in regionals

-1717
-973
-971

Best robots in CA while competing at championhships

-1717
-973
-254

TBH, 971 topped 254 in the regional level. However, it seemed that 254 perfected their aiming in the time between Central Valley and St. Louis, and Spartan robotics ran into some trouble at champs, causing 254 to top 971 at the championship level.

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Connecticut is 2168, 177, and 195

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I'm familiar with upstate New York, but I can't really post a top 3 for the State without knowing much about the NYC/Long Island teams.

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CA 1717, 971, 254

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HI, 359, 368, 1056

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FL - 180, 233, 1065

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For Arizona, I'd say 842, 2486, and 2840.

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IN- 3940, 829, 868

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If this is just about Bots then you should combine 1510 and 2898, since the robots were completely identical.

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I got the chance to attend all three Texas regionals and Bayou this year, so I saw a lot (if not all) of the Texas teams.

It's hard not to pick 148 and 1477 since they each grabbed two regional wins. 118 has to be added to list since they got the win at Lone Star and made it to Einstein with one of the best robots in the nation.

It's hard to leave 624 off this list since they probably had the most accurate shooter in Texas and the in my opinion the best robot they have built in the past 10 years.

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#1 in Minnesota is KingTeC, 2169
#2 in Minnesota (tied) Knightkrawler, 2056 and RoboEagles, 3081

Normally I would consider myself biased because I do mentor 3081 but I only mentor students from 3081 on non-technical items.

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I would actually say its a big tie for third between 2840, 498, 2449, 1492 with maybe 2449 with a slight advantage. We are also very flattered. :)

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Yes, yes I should. I cannot believe that they slipped my mind while I was making the list the first time :ahh:

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Not necessarily. Just because you have a good robot that doesnt mean you had good Drivers for that robot.

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I'll echo what Zach said in the first post for MI, but i think 33 also deserves some credit. They had a lot of com problems at the district and state level, but when they were on, watch out!
There's another one??? They needed to be on Newton with us and 330!

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Just so no one gets confused, could you perhaps change 2056 to 2054, which is who I assume you meant :)

As for the top 3 teams in New York, I can honestly agree with Steve and Simon that the top 3 teams are from Finger Lakes. I would say the top 3 New York teams are:

1. 1507 - The Warlocks
2. 191 - The X-Cats
3. 340 - Greater Rochester Robotics (GRR)

All three of these teams were consistently high scorers, and truly were some of the best in NYC. I'm not extensively aware of teams from NYC and Long Island, but a run-over of those teams tells me that FLR truly held the best.

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365 is in Delware. And you know this :)

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KnightKrawlers are 2052. 2054 is from Hopkins, Michigan.

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hehe, I always forget they're not from Philly :o

341 1218 and 222 it is then haha.

Definitely makes Delaware an easy state to choose for though...Only 365 and 1370 still.

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Oh wow. Major fail, I even did research before this to make sure I didn't put the wrong number. :(

I meant 2052, Knightkrawler from Irondale High School in MN.

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Don't worry, I just did the exact same this :o 2054 is Michigan. MY BAD. :o

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I may have a slight bias, but I definitely agree about 340's robot. I would also say they are also one of the top [i]teams[i]. They were a fantastic dumper, and their ability to hang a huge part of their robot off of the bride was a great feature. They easily kept up with some of the less consistent top-shooters through an almst guaranteed 6 points every time they unloaded. Definitely one of the better dumpers I saw this season. Unfortunately, from this list, 1507 was the only one to play in the elimination matches.

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After viewing the regional's in Missouri. (I watched all the match videos online) and based on the robot performance & comebacks I would have to say that the top 3 for our state are:

MISSOURI:
#1: 1288
#2: 1094
#3: 931

(I'm not basing this on points but on performance on team and robot and comebacks and how well they did. and this is how I would rate it)

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I would agree with this list for NJ definitely.

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You know what would be an interesting matchup...

548, 330, 2733 vs any three shooters (say, 1114, 2056, 1717). That would be a hugely entertaining matchup, because the arm-based shooters have good close-range accuracy (and to some extent longer-range accuracy from the key) and the shooters have good accuracy anywhere they stop to unload.


Any CA list that doesn't have 1717 is not complete, IMO. I didn't see enough other CA teams to judge more than that.

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California: 1717, 254, 971, in respective order.

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Yeah, I was having a bit of trouble limiting it to only three. I'd throw 1726 into that mix as well.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

For Washington this year,

1) 1983 - Made it to the finals of every regional they attended (Portland, Seattle Cascade, and Spokane), finally pulled off the win in Spokane, and added a Chairman's award as well. Extremely consistent shooter and overall an excellent robot that was the top of the state.

2) 488 - Seeded first and selected 118 at the Alamo Regional to form a dominant 1st alliance, lost to the surprise triple balance from 148, 922, and 2936, and then came back to be finalists in Seattle Cascade and win the Chairman's Award. A very consistent catapult design made them hard to beat.

3) 2471 - Paired with 2046 to win at the Seattle Olympic Regional, with their unique design helping them sink shot after shot from the fender. At Championships, they were selected by 1717 and 469 and made it to the semis. Coming off of a year where they won two regionals in 2011, they put together a solid showing in Rebound Rumble.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I would have to say for NH it would be 1519, 131, and 3467. 1519 made it to the finals of the granite state regional and won the North Carolina Regional, made it to the semi finals of Newton, and has won battlecry and Mayhem in Merrimack. 131 won GSR and did well in the Boston regional, Battlecry, and Mayhem in Merrimack. 3467 was one of my favorite robots, and they did very well in GSR, Hartford, Battlecry, and Mayhem in Merrimack. Lots of other great robots to choose from but these are the top 3 in my opinion.

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Wisconsin:

1. 2826
2. 1732/1714 (tie)
3. 171

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I may be a bit biased in my picks for Indiana

#1 829 Andy Baker said so.
#2 868 Really hope they start building practice bots, they would be hard to beat.
#3 234 Always build a great bot, this year was no exception.

Honorable mention to super rookies 3940 and 3947

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I'd have to say my top teams from Idaho, in no particular order, are 2122 for their consistently excellent robots, 3456 for their outreach and inspiring RCA win in their second year competing, and 1569 for mentorship and great robots. But I love all the Idaho teams :D

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I put 1511 in over 191 for this year because after FLR. 1511 improved a lot in my eyes though they were at a tough second regional. 191 and 1511 were very close in overall robot performance but I think 1511 was a little better this year.

This is asking for robot performance of 2012 and not any other year right ? If its over multiple years then my vote would be different.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

North Dakota:

1 - 876
2 - 877
3 - probably our 2009 lunacy bot that we used for testing :)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Haha North Dakota represent! We hope to see you in Duluth again next year!

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There's always been talk of a practice bot, unfortunately it's always talk.

My top 3:
829
234
3940

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

What he said.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I'd go with 341, 1218, and 357 personally.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I've been having the same argument in my head of 1511 v 191. I can absolutely see why you'd pick 1511, and I was very close to as well. They had an amazingly designed robot and played the game very well. I, however, picked 191 because I felt like they used their design more effectively. 1511 could definitely do more in a match than 191, but I felt that if you broke it down to scoring and balancing, 191 had the edge. That said, 1511 is an insanely close second, and if we were picking the top 4 team, at least we'd all agree on who New York gets :)

And yeah, I think it's just for 2012. If it were all years, HAVE to give the edge to 191. You can't argue with 21 years!

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

agreed

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I'd have to agree that 357 was a major player in MAR. 222 had an amazing machine in the early events but made some late changes to their shooter which seemed to adversely effect shooting accuracy.

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Based on purely on performance this year, I suspect that 2130 Alpha+ should be somewhere in the list, - even though 1891 and 2122 didn't get a chance to play with them. Personally really like Justin's sentiment about loving all of the Idaho teams, and especially those teams like 4086 who made it to the Championships based on performance as rookies - way to go Idaho :)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

RI:

Team 78 (31-12-2: BAE semifinals, Boston Finals, Curie Finals)
Team 1350 (13-11-0: Boston Semifinals, officially ranked 68th in Galileo)
Team 121 (7-8-1: Boston Semifinals)

(objectively based on 2012 results only to eliminate bias)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Shucks, after winning both Missouri regionals as the #1 seed, I was hoping we might squeek into the state top 3. :D

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No love for 174 in NY? haha. Here is my NY top 3:

#1, 1507, probably the best NY team bar none. I don't think I need to say more.
#2, 522, A great team this year, Won NYC and semifinalist at Long Island.
#3, 340, Obviously a smart robot and a smart group of students.

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Thanks for thinking that my team is one of the top 3 in Missouri, coming from you guys it means alot :D

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Districts and States:
1. 67 - Won every competition they attended before Worlds.
2. 469
3. 548

Worlds:
1. 548 - Only Michigan team to make it to Einstein.
2. 67
3. 469

Honorable Mentions: Too many to count.

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In Texas... there's 118 Robonauts, 148 Robowranglers, and 1477 Texas Torque... AWESOME and INSPIRING...

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I'm working out in Calgary, AB right now. There are only two teams in the province.

So, 1482 and 4334 I guess. :D

Summer mentor, anyone?

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I am going to add 2530 to my list, Inconceivable. They had an amazing robot that could really score, it was unfortunate at the state tournament that their shooter ended up getting un-calibrated due to tipping.

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Team 548 was also (according to their site) the first Michigan team to triple balance, and they were also one of the first three robots to collectively pull off a triple balance on the field in Canada, the other two robots being us, Team 1075, and Team 4307.

As for teams in Ontario, here are my picks:
1: 2056 (Never lost a regional, and they defeated 1114's alliance at GTR West)
2: 1114 (Lost to 2056's alliance at GTR West, so I rank them second)
3: 188/610 (They always build excellent robots which are highly capable, but are often put in the shadow of 1114/2056)

Honorable mentions to 1503, 907, 3161, and 1241!

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

(and 1075)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Innitially, this is what I would have suggested.... but since the title of the thread doesn't specify i'm going to go with

1st FTC 4997, who won the championship of every competition they attendend, including worlds

2nd FRC 180, Winners of the world championship

3rd FLL Hammerheads, winning the state championship the 3rd consecutive year, winners of two 2nd place trophies at the World Invitational Open

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

That is a unique way to look at it. But I also took from it that it was this year's bots

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

IL 111, 1625, 2949

-Nick

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

What about 1208

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

They would be a close 4th (Almost forgot about them since they weren't at midswest this year). They attended 2 more "watered down" regionals compared to 1625. Also, 1625's bot was better than their elimination outcomes suggest. So I would say:
1) 111
2) 2949
3) 1625
4) 1208

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

There where 65 teams at one of the regionals that there were at and at both regionals they made it to the finals when 1625 only made it to the quarterfinals in both competions, so i dont see why 1208 wouldnt make the top 3

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

See who they were against. Or: play the Yankees and Red Sox and Rangers and Phillies with one team, then take the same team and play the Royals, the Athletics, the Orioles, and the Twins. Your team will probably do better in the second group. If 1208 was playing "weaker" events than 1625, even though they performed better in terms of how far they went, then you have to evaluate based on the robot itself. (Rankings and final results at prior events have absolutely nothing to do with how good a robot is at the event in question, if you haven't learned that already.)

And if 1208 and 1625 are not similar in robot performance, then you'll have a clear choice. If they are... well, you may have to go to recognition, where do their opponents end up, and all that.


Seeing as how some folks are eager to put 1208 in the top 3, I'd be curious to see their top 3 for IL, which I haven't seen yet.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Thanks for the vote Aces! :)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

This is the first time I've seen someone claim Lake Superior isn't the "watered down" event.

Also, another team from IL that didn't attend midwest, 2481.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Unfortunately, my knowledge of 1625 this year is limited to just Lake Superior, but anyway, here are my musings as to why they lost in the Quarterfinals there. At the least I will try to be unbiased, but I guess I can't entirely do so seeing as how we kinda won the set.

The Alliances

The Blue Alliance: 3747, 3883, and 93
vs.
The Red Alliance: 1625, 2175, and 2957

The Alliance Breakdown:

The Red Alliance Captain was 1625. They were ranked 5th or 6th if I remember correctly in our scouting system. Fast and nimble, they were, by far, the best scoring platform on the field for the match. They were joined by 2175 and 2957, both of which I can't even remember what they did for the match or what their capabilities were... Wow my memory sucks.

The Blue Alliance Captain was us (93). We got to be an alliance captain almost through a fluke (I say almost because I know our drive team tried to get coopertition balances set up for almost every match, even if we couldn't do anything else, including balancing). So, by virtue of being unable to score, we ended up on defense. However, we got fantastic picks to score for us. They were our alliance partners, 3883 and 3747. They were 8th and 11th on our list for top performing robots if I remember correctly. They had relatively similar scoring abilities and could both balance with relative ease.

Match Breakdown:

*Match 1: Red scored no points in autonomous mode while Blue scored 12. The match then took off as any other match might under normal circumstances. The goal: score as many points as possible and then finish with a double balance. Both sides were able to double balance leaving the score at 42-32. A loss for the Red Alliance. If you're going, "What the heck just happened?" don't worry, there is an explanation. It is that during teleoperated mode, we, 93 were able to get in the way of the Red alliance by camping out at the fender and just being a general nuisance. The key to this is that through scouting, we had noticed that 1625 and 2175, when they would attempt to score, would most often go for the fender shots. This severely limited the Red Alliance, allowing 3747 and 3883 to work their magic through scoring.

*Match 2: Red took the lead during autonomous 10-0. Then both teams went on to attempt scoring. Blue caught up to make the score 10-12 and then successfully double balanced while Red failed, which set the final score at 10-32 with Blue winning. I would like to note that we would have won even if Red Alliance had balanced their double like they had attempted. Again, as before, we (93) played defense such that 1625 with their 6-wheel tank got pushed around by our mecanum drive, effectively ending the possibility of scoring at the fender.

Key Points:

We scouted and formed a strategy based on that. This was the basis of being able to complete with an effective alliance given the odds otherwise since it was the 3rd seed against the 6th seed. It also allowed the identification of a key weakness on the Red alliance. The fact that none of their robots were effective from the key which pushed them to the fender where defense can be extremely effective.

Second, the Blue alliance could not have won either of the matches without every team helping out. Without 3747 and 3883, the score would have been 0 on the blue alliance. Without 93, we couldn't have stopped the Red Alliance from being able to score effectively.

----

So I hope that is a reasonable explanation as to what happened there. Feel free to ask questions.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

You pushed around a tank drive with mecanums?!?!?! Is this a joke or for real?!

Reading this post just goes to show that if you have a good strategy going into Elims you will do a lot better.

Good job :)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

1208 did attend a regional with 2949. They ranked 5th in the KC Regional as compared to 2949's 6th. 1208 went on to the regional finals, while 2949 lost in the quarters. 1208 was also a finalist in the second regional they attended.

PS. Its hard to call the KC Regional watered down considering over 1/4th of the field went on to the World Championship. 9 of the 64 teams boast a regional win. 5 teams went on to seed 1st in other regionals. Of the 17 teams that attended champs 6 of them went on to play in the elimination rounds. One team (Bomb Squad) won 3 regionals, their division, and the world championship this year.

By comparison Midwest had 4 out of 49 teams claim a regional victory. 2 teams seeded first in other regionals. 7 teams attended champs and 4 went on to play in elimination rounds. Bomb Squad also attended Midwest.

Both 2949 and 16 played in KC and Midwest. Both teams seeded higher against the Midwest competition than they did in KC.

Below are the KC teams that went to champs.

1986 (#1 seed in KC, regional winner and Engineering Inspiration. #1 seed in St. Louis and regional winner, #4 seed in Curie division and quarterfinalist.)
3528 (#2 seed in KC and semifinalist. #1 seed in Oklahoma and regional winner. #7 seed in Curie division and semifinalist.)
935(#3 seed in KC and finalist. #1 seed at Dallas West and regional winner. Did not attend Champs.)
16 (#4 seed in KC and regional winner. #1 seed at Midwest and regional winner, #1 seed at Dallas East and regional winner. #27 seed in Galileo division, division winner and World Champions.)
1208(#5 seed in KC and finalist. #2 seed in St. Louis and finalist. At large bid for Champs. #15 seed in Galileo division.)
2949 (#6 seed in KC and quarterfinalist. #3 seed at Midwest, quarterfinalist and Engineering Inspiration. #41 seed in Archimedes division and quarterfinalist.)
1987 (#9 seed in KC and seminfalist. #5 seed in St. Louis, semifinalist and Engineering Inspiration. #51 seed in Archimedes division.)
525(#16 seed in KC and semifinalist. #13 seed at 10,000 Lakes and regional winner. #73 seed in Curie division and quarterfinalist.)
1985 (#18 seed in KC and quarterfinalist, #6 seed in St. Louis, regional winner and Regional Chairman's Award. #29 seed in Curie division.)
1108(#28 seed in KC and Regional Chairman's Award. #100 seed in Curie division.) 7th Chairman's Award in last 9 years!
2996 (#30 seed in KC. #1 seed in Colorado and regional winner. #28 seed in Archimedes division.)
3784 (#34 seed in KC and regional winner. #76 seed in Galileo division.)
3931 (#38 seed in KC and Rooke All Star. #41 seed in Oklahoma and Rookie All Star. #98 seed in Galileo division.)
2395 (#53 seed in KC. #21 seed in Oklahoma and regional winner. #31 seed in Archimedes division.)
1764 (#54 seed in KC. #15 seed in Colorado, semifinalists and Engineering Inspiration. #92 seed in Curie division.)
2164 (#58 seed in KC. #2 seed at Dallas West, semifinalist, and Engineering Inspiration. #72 seed in Curie division.)
2410 (#60 seed in KC. #19 seed in Oklahoma and quarterfinalist. At large bid for Champs. #90 seed in Archimedes.)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I would hope that a tank drive wouldn't get pushed back by a mecanum drive, but alas. I am not joking. In the way of proof, unfortunately, the most I could find right now is a mention by the announcer around two thirds of the way in. http://www.youtube.com/#/watch?featu...&v=8SYanAjzUxE

And personally, I feel that your salutations are better off going to our drive team and our alliance partners. I was just an interested bystander with access to the student who made the picks and advised on strategy!

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Look no further than match 6 at midwest (1625, xxxx, xxxx) beat (111, xxxx, xxxx). Although I didnt personally watch this paticular match (i was in the pits at the time) 1625 looked solid throughout the entire regional. 2949 did the same, defeating an alliance that included 111. They also went 9-3 where 1208 went 11-5 in a game where record means more than seed because of coopertition. I'm not saying that 1208 isnt a good team (they are very good), i would just personally pick 111, 2949, and 1625 before them.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Well the Orioles are 39-30 and have a better record than the Phillies or Red Sox... ;)

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

In the only tournament 2949 and 1208 both attended, 1208 was selected by the #3 captain (935). They could have selected 2949, but chose 1208 instead. 2949 was left to captain the 4th alliance. At least to 935 (who went on to the finals, and later won the Dallas West Regional) 1208 was the better pick. Our scouts were also at that regional and can confirm that 1208 outperformed 2949. I was there, and as the lead scouting mentor for 1986 I can say it's not even a tough call. They're both good teams, but 1208 was easily the better robot at the week 1 regional.

edit: For those that think Record is a better indicator, 1208 went 7-2 in qualifications at champs, 2949 went 5-4. However, when we scout robot performance, record isn't even a consideration.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Okay, they may have been the better team at a week 1 regional, but both teams progressed well throughout the season. 2949 really started to tune in their shooting accuracy at Midwest, and eventually the championships. Past that, its really hard to compare the 2 (OPR isn't a good indicator, and they competed in different divisions at championships).

Also, I don't know how much weight you can put on this, but 2949 was accepted into IRI, while 1625 didn't make the cut. In this case (assuming 111 is #1), shouldn't it be between 1208 and 1625 for the 3rd spot?

Also, as was said before, what about 2481? They were a solid 24-8 throughout the season, and were finalists at Wisconsin, and semifinalists at Queen City. I wish that both them and 1208 went to Midwest. It would have made making this list a whole lot easier.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Fair enough. While 1208 did seed higher in their division at champs (15th) than 2949 (41st), 2949 was selected for elimination round play and 1208 wasn't. That is enough evidence to make the improvement since week 1 argument plausible. Not enough evidence to throw-out the week 1 data, but enough to bring it into question.

Neither 1208 nor 1625 qualified for champs (1208 purchased a slot during open registration). 1625 lost every elimination round they played, while 1208 reached the finals in both of their regionals. The idea that 1625 faced superior competition needs some data to back it up. I'm interested in how you would justify either Midwest or Lake Superior being more difficult than KC this year? Even if an argument could be made, losing to better competition doesn't necessarily make you better than someone who won every quarterfinal and semifinal match they played in.

It's pretty cool when a state has so many good teams it makes it difficult to rank the top 3. I hadn't even considered 2481. :cool:

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Eh. Won't last. Unless something changes. (Then again I should talk. The Dodgers are 42-27.) And maybe I should have used the Pirates, who as I recall hold the league record for consecutive losing seasons--but they're currently 35-32...


It looks like my suggestion took a side track. What I was trying to say was, was 1625 playing against tough teams, while 1208 played against easier teams? Now, remember, as noted in the sports example, things change. But if you struggle against a top team, and beat a lower team, while someone else beats both, then where do you stack up against that other team? I would say that they deserve to be rated higher. If you beat two lower-performing teams, and they beat one lower-performing team and lose to a higher-performing team, then who deserves a higher ranking?

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Why do people keep saying that kansas city is a week regional when the facts show that teams from kansas city won other regionals and did well at champs. So can someone explain to me how these where the easier teams.?

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I haven't seen 1625 but I thought 2481 (at Wisconsin) was quite a bit better than 1208 (at the championship).

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

1114.
2056.
67.
548.
2410.
254.
16.
1986.
233.
1717.
1730.
1987.
111.
1625.


Of those 14 teams, which ones are nationally known as being good teams?

Or, a shorter list, which ones aren't nationally recognized as being perennially good teams? (2410, 1986, 1987, 1730)*

Now, which of those teams were at Kansas City? (16, 2410, 1730, 1986, 1987) What other teams that might have a lot of national/world recognition were there?

Take Midwest. Take Queen City. Take Central Valley. Take Orlando. Take St. Louis Regional. Who did they have on that list that was nationally recognized?

You ask why Kansas City is considered a weak regional when teams from that regional did well elsewhere too. I ask you, how many of the teams at Kansas City are known to the FRC community at large to do well, year in and year out, year after year?

The answer: One. I'll give you three more halves--I can think of at least three that were there that are what I'd call "on the way", but it might be a year or two. I'll give you one more half for some of the teams for whom it might be 4-5 years. Add them all up. In a 64-team event, 3 teams known to the FRC community at large--when a 66-team event can summon a good, solid, 5-6 teams without going into half-teams that are up and coming--is not exactly a strong regional in terms of recognition.

What are you going to do about it? Quit whining about how "our regional is as tough as yours but you say it's weak", and start getting some good solid upper-echelon robots known out there in the nation at large, and us saying it's a weak regional will take care of itself. Go beat some of the best at their home events--or better yet, at the Championship. And not just in one year, but in two or three years. How else do you think Michigan got its reputation for good teams? How about Midwest as a tough regional?


*This statment is not meant as a slight against these teams. The Fantasy FIRSTers would probably consider any one of them slipping to the second round of drafting--or worse, third round--to be a huge error on multiple people's parts, and a tremendous steal at that point in the draft, depending of course on event size and who else is there. But, there aren't that many bold enough to play the Season Long league...

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I think what Eric is talking about is what people think are the best teams from each state from conception. But what the OP wanted was the best bots from each state this year.

But another thing I will say is that if you talk to kids on teams now, you might get differeing views from what long standing FIRST members might say as dominant or relevant teams. Now you will get alot of the same names being hailed as top teams(i.e. 1114, 67, 254, etc.) but you may also get names like 469, 1986, 548, 2056 because the kids in FIRST now, don't have the historical knowledge that older members do.

So to say that this team is better than this team because of their record, even though length of teams might be different, is irrelevant because if you asked a 2nd year team member from a team who attended OKC they might say 1986 is the best from the region because of the recent success that they have had. But if you asked someone who has been on a team for atleast 5-7 years from around FIRST, they will tell you that 16 easily rules the OKC region in terms of accomplishments.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

My point wasn't that they were easier teams, but that it was a week 1 regional. Teams typically get better throughout the competition season. Matches from a second or third regional should carry more weight than those from their first. While 1208 proved to be a good team early in the season, they didn't make eliminations at champs (where it matters most).

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

Actually, I was directly responding to the "Why do people think X regional is weak" question. This necessarily goes through the reputations of the teams present at that regional in a particular year, and reputations are built up over multiple years. (CVR was pegged as a particularly tough regional this year, as I recall, despite being a first-year event.) If I see that Magnolia Regional has 60 teams, of which very few are "known consistent contenders", and the Hibiscus Regional has 50 teams, of which 10 are "known consistent contenders", I'm more likely to say that Magnolia is a weaker regional than Hibiscus, regardless of how the teams sent to Championship do. That's just me, however.

Before that, I was responding to someone saying that X team was better than Y team on record from different events, some of which were publicly held to be weaker than other events. I simply pointed out that the different teams at each event had to be taken into account (though admittedly, I didn't quite say that in so many words) and suggested that those saying that X was better than Y put out their top 3 for the state in question, as I had seen nothing of that sort. I seem to have ignited a firestorm by suggesting that, which I had no intention of doing. Mea culpa.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I think for CA. would be 1717, 254, and 3476

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

This is poor reasoning to determine the strength of a regional that has already happened.

The Wisconsin regional this year is a perfect example. Many people ignored Wisconsin to watch Midwest, who had 111, 71, 148, 16, and 1625. Wisconsin had 2194, 2826, 1714, 48, 1732, and 2169, less known, yet all of whom at least advanced to the semi finals in their divisions. The average qualification scores were 16.2 for Midwest, and 25.0 for WI, and the average elimination scores were 41.3 for Midwest and 56.3 for WI, which was the 4th highest among all regionals/districts this year. Needless to say, people missed some pretty awesome competition.

Relating that back to this scenario, the average qual scores at KC were 19.0, and elim scores were 43.4. compared to the 16.2 and 41.3 at Midwest.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

For CA, After being at CVR and watching Champs from home (Thanks MadStream!). I'd have to honestly say the best are:

1. 1717 - They had the highest percentage shooting/make ratio in FRC.
2. 254 - At champs really stepped it up.
3. This could go to a few teams depending on who you liked:

971, 1323, 973 are a three way tie for me. All three had different designs. 971 had one of the most efficient systems. 1323 was the highest percentage shooting robot on galileo, it was a weird looking robot but blew my mind away. 973 had one of the most beautiful systems this year. There robot could do it all.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

I'm confused. The regionals in question were 1625's Midwest and Lake Superior as compared to 1208's "watered down" Kansas City and St. Louis. On your list 2056, 67, 548, 254, 233, and 1717 attended none of those regionals and have no bearing on the comparison. Reputation is valuable before the event. In hindsight, actual performance would seem a better gauge to judge the strength of a regional. I'll grant you that 1208's St. Louis regional is probably the weakest of the 4.

A decent gauge in my opinion would be the number of teams at a regional who make it to the elimination portion of the world championship.

KC = 5 (1 world champion, 1 division semifinalist, 3 division quarterfinalists, 11 not selected)
MW = 4 (1 world champion, 3 division quarterfinalist, 4 not selected)
LS = 3 (2 division finalists, 1 division semifinalist, 9 not selected.)
SL = 1 (1 division quarterfinalist, 8 not selected.)

Midwest has a great reputation. The level of competition this year was hurt by having Wisconsin on the same weekend. This year the KC regional had more teams qualify for the world championship, advance to the elimination rounds, and advance further in the tournament than any of the other 3 regionals in question. (Wisconsin had several metrics that outperformed both KC and MW this year and probably would have made MW much stronger if the two regionals had not conflicted.)

Again, this entire thread is about this year.

Re: Top 3 Bots in YOUR State
 

And I never said it wasn't. However, it is the #1 most common method of determining the strength of a regional before it happens. Sorry if you don't like it that way, but that's the facts. Why else do you think Wisconsin was ignored in favor of Midwest in terms of watching? Not all of us have the numbers for average score at our fingertips.

If I were to make a prediction as for how strong Kansas City will be considered next year--no relation to how strong it will actually be, mind you--I would have to predict that it won't be considered strong. Regardless of any statistics you choose to bring up from this year, last year, the year before that... Regardless of how many good but unknown teams are there. It won't be considered a strong regional until the teams from that regional show that this year wasn't a fluke, or until multiple powerhouses show up. That's what people will think. Again, that's a prediction as to seen strength, not actual strength.