What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

First off, let me sincerely thank 1114 and 195 for picking us and 1405 for being awesome alliance partners at IRI. We loved working with all of you and it was an incredible experience for our team. In addition to that, it certainly felt like a milestone for our team. I've been around since 2014, when 225 wasn't quite on the level it is today, but nevertheless had pretty good results. However, last year we had seniors graduate who remembered our 2012 season, which is a night-and-day difference when compared to our performance in the last two years. I'm incredibly proud of how far we've come and I'm thankful that I've been able to contribute to 225's growing success.

As such, I love digging around the Blue Alliance team histories that show interesting changes in performance and finding out about what caused those changes. What teams do you think have improved the most in the shortest amount of time, and, if you know, what were the driving factors?

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

2056 went from not existing (2006) to picking 1114 as the #1 seed at the Toronto regional (2007). This is probably because they went from not being a team to being a team :p (Note, 2056 actually did a bunch of great practices in their rookie year that I spoke to them about. PM me or *even better* someone on 2056 so you can find out about them).

971 wasn't *that* good before 2009 and really wasn't at their current level until 2012. They went from seeding decently at tough regionals to seeding very well at events like the modern SVR (and I don't know anyone who would deny that 971 is a team that was good enough to win world's in 2014 or this year but had some bad luck at world's). I spoke to Wyn Schuh at World's quite a bit this year and she said that their success really just started because of experience and learning what works and what doesn't work. Lots of their former students and members still support their team as mentors and use their years of experience to guide the team and keep it very focused.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

In Minnesota I've seen 3130 the errors improve in a short period of time. Their 2015 season was their breakout year winning 2 regionals, semi-finalist at champs, and winning the MN state championship. 2016 was also great for them as they won another regional and were semi-finalists at champs again. 3130 slowly jumped from just another team in MN to a powerhouse in FRC IMO.

Team 2122 the tators I feel like have also improved. They've been gunning at hitting Einstein for a long time and I feel like they finally took that step into the elite team they are. Ever since I saw them in 2014 in Galileo, I know they've been a good team. They definitely had a stellar stacking machine 2015 and of course in 2016 they jumped to that next level with their stellar performance in Carson.

2481 the robo-teers have also been improving. Ever since I saw their reveal video in 2014 I knew they were one of the upcoming teams that make their stance in the big stage. From making their first appearance on Einstein in 2014 to winning it all in 2016, these guys have been improving year after year.

There are so many teams to choose from, but these are the ones that appear first on my mind.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

*facepalm*

How in the world could I forget 5172!!! Even thought they started with a stellar year their rookie year and have been maintaining that performance they took the next step this year with winning their first regional and making their team name loud within FRC. I was surprised they didn't get on Einstein- even in Newton the most stacked division. They have improved a ton since 2014 and if they keep improving at this pace, I won't be surprised if they'll put their name up with the big named teams year after year. Too bad 2 champs is next year.. I wish I could be saying 5172 could eventually win it all in the future.. :/ Oh well they'll have to settle with winning North Champs sometime.. :D

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Admittedly this is completely biased as it is my old team, but I think 1058 fits this pretty well despite not being that well known. Plus I love talking about the team's history so this should be fun.

From 2003-2009, 1058 was known by others as the team who would do creative things and do well, but wasn't good enough to win events or anything. Some cool features include a giant ball catching robot in 2004, an insanely massive crane for 2005 (as well as some neat software), lots of strange uses for PVC, and for a little while a strong usage of mecanum wheels. Won a couple of awards such as rookie all star and a quality award, but never made it past the semifinals.

2010 was a breakout year for the Pirates, with a cool kicking mecanism, climber, field oriented mecanum drive, and could strafe on the bump (https://youtu.be/qkRz-zcqY6I 1:20 in the video). The team won their first regional ever at GSR and was even an alliance captain at IRI.

The next few years however were mediocre in terms of the robot success. Once again we had some really cool designs such as mecanums with locking rollers, strange linkage arms and frisbee floor intakes that put banebots out of business, but we couldn't get back to that 2010 level.

2010-2013 was the changing point for 1058 however. The team started becoming less of a robotics club and more of a FIRST program. A student leadership system was established, funding through the town and sponsors became a priority, we started going to as many offseason events as we possibly could, and we began hosting and traveling to dozens of demos all across New England. The team won our first Chairmans Award at GSR 2012, and our lead mentor Mike Pettengill won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award at Pine Tree 2013.

The final piece of the puzzle was to make 1058's unique robots become competitive once again. In 2014 we began a new system in how we went about design to fabrication, decided to CAD everything in detail before machining, and began making everything in house after learning how to use our DRO mills. We made our first custom frame, finished the robot earlier than we ever had, and kept to our usual unique design choices (seriously go check out our 2014 robot). This process led to an excellence in engineering award in 2014, and the same process led to more design awards in 2015 and 2016.

Present day, the team has kept to the new design method of high CAD utilization, designing from the ground up, and having students machine parts in house closer to spec than some cots parts (one of our students machined a linear bearing within 2 yen thousandths of an inch on a manual mill in 2015). The team had their best year ever in 2016, winning three district events and competing at 8 events already this season (they usually hit 7-10 a year). In the last 5 years 1058 has won 3 chairmans awards and 3 district events, as well as many different robot and non robot awards.

That was way longer than I thought it would be. I hope it doesn't look like I'm going too hard. I learned a lot after graduating from 1058 that I got really lucky with the team I was able to be on. I hear many complaints from FRC alumni about their experience as a student. I have no complaints. The student base always got along, the mentors are amazing and truly "get" what FIRST is all about. They push their students to learn incredible things and become anything they want to be. Seriously though, go check out some 1058 robots on Blue Alliance, they're all very unique machines from the normal design each year, but you can see the improvements slowly building on themselves.

Hopefully someone enjoys reading this because it took a really long time to write.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

As a MUCH shorter post, go check out 319 from 2013 to the present. The growth is super obvious.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

FRC 1218 went from finishing dead last at the 2004 Chesapeake regional (didn't win a single match) to making it to Einstein and ending up world runner up that year.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Before 2009, NC GEARS 1918 had never made eliminations. In 2008, they seeded 40th at their only regional. In 2009 they had an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING breakout year in which they won a district event, made finalist at another district event, ranked #2 overall and made finals at MSC, and ranked #2 and made finals again on Newton. In 2010 they seeded first at MSC and were champions. They're still a powerhouse today.

Ridiculous improvement in just one year.

What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

In CA (or pretty much anywhere): 1678, hands down. They went from an OK team (rank 30 in SAC 2009, 11 at SAC 2010) to winning regionals and Championship quarterfinalists in 2011 and 2012 (winner SAC and Curie QF both years), to winning SAC, Curie, and appearing on Einstein (all as an alliance captain) for their first year in 2013. This started an Einstein appearance streak that stands to this day, 3 seasons later. In 2014, they won IE and SAC, were finalists at SVR, and were alliance captains on Newton, going all the way to Einstein finals. We know what happened last year: wins at CVR, SAC, and SVR, captain of the winning alliance on Newton, and winning the FIRST championship. This year was no different in terms of incredible performance, with a record of 59-4-2. That encompassed regional wins at CVR, SAC, SVR, winning Hopper, and Einstein semifinalists. They are truly on top of the FRC world. The most amazing part is they are incredibly open and want to help as many teams as they can achieve the levels of success they can. I encourage anyone reading this to ask them about how they do what they do, I guarantee they would love to tell you.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Although this is probably not what this thread is about I am going to talk about my own team.

Team 2869 began in 2009 under the name One Small Step. Our 2009 year was not terrible for a rookie placing towards the bottom and winning Rookie Inspiration out of 3 rookies that year. 2010 was not a good season in all reality but we seeded well and became the 7th alliance captain. But it was clear we were not too good scoring 1 and 2 in our 2 respective quarterfinal matches. 2011 was not good.. seeding 43/50. 2012 was actually a pretty good year for us where we captained the 5th alliance and were not completely blown out in our quarterfinal matches. All our robot could do was score in autonomous (Intake did not work) but it was a good year for us. However, everything went down from there.

In 2013 we built a net on wheels which seeded us 36/50.
In 2014 (my rookie year) we built this whole elaborate shooter that was too big and did not work. So we chopped it off on practice day. From there we had a barely driving robot with mecanum wheels. Although we seeded 43/66 I consider this rock bottom for our team. We then decided we were going to do an offseason competition for the first time. We tried to build just an intake and failed. We ended up with the same exact robot. I don't have a picture on my laptop but when I get home on Tuesday ill add one.

2015 was the first year I really put a lot of effort into robotics. We had a lot of internal issues fighting over designs and we ended up fighting to the finish to build a robot. The robot was built to spec by stop build day but did not function.. at all. The elevator system did not work at all and we actually only saw it lift for one match. Despite me trying the best as a driver I could ramming into bins to try to move them and actually scoring a few points from pushing totes we seeded last. Our team however, was looking better. We had a logo for the first time, and a website.

The 2015-2016 season is where we really switched into high gear. At the end of the 2015 school year I was elected Captain. What I saw was a team that was failing, the school saw that we spent 3 years without making elims and also saw that we never took home an award since our rookie year. It was clear we either got better or disbanded. Over that summer we got our first sponsors and perfected one of the vetoed designs from the 2015 season. Going in to the 2015/2016 school year we started off building a brand new 2015 robot. This robot was simple very simple but, it worked. For the first time since 2012 we had a working robot. That working robot took us to the finals at a local offseason. We came home with a trophy for the first time in 7 years of being a team. Going into the 2016 season we were in high gear. We finished the robot week 3 and spent 3 weeks making it better. As soon as we went to our week 0 in CT we were getting comments about how good our robot was performing and such. This was crazy for us as we were usually the laughing stock of an event and to hear comments like these from good New England teams was very inspiring. We did pretty well at our one and only regional seeding bad but getting chosen as a first pick to the 8th seeded alliance. It was the first time ever we were picked for an alliance. Due to our low seed I was surprised we were picked. When I made that comment to our alliance captain she laughed at that statement and commented that she was surprised we were not picked yet. We had a short run in the quarterfinals winning the first match and losing the next 2 by close margins. Because of a ref missing a crossing we were kicked out but we put up the 2nd highest score for the regional and overall it was a performance we were proud of. I also ended up taking home the deans list finalist award and our mentor took home the woodie flowers finalist award. That meant our first blue banner and first time getting official awards other then a rookie award. Our team is no longer the worst team at an event and is now a decently known middle of the road team.

Next year we hope to win our first regional and hopefully take home a chairmans award or ei award. Currently we are fixing our bottlenecks (CAD and electrical) and designing an offseason robot which will hopefully win our first event.

Overall this year was huge for our team and hopefully its only the start. We went from seeding last never moving to being a first pick at a regional, being finalists at an offseason, and winning 2 awards.

I will end this post saying although I was the captain of the team this year without an incredible team to lead we would have failed once again.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

+1


Also going to throw 166 and 238 into the mix.
-166's robots over the past few years have been getting better and better, with this year's being one of my favorite bots of 2016. Looking forward to seeing what they produce in the upcoming years

-238 had a breakout year. As a team with some origins all the way back to '92, this was the first year they ever medaled- and boy did they medal. Might not be an improvement over the course of a couple or few years, but an improvement nonetheless and I'm excited to see how they do in the future as well.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I agree with 1918. Came out of nowhere in 2009, and haven't stopped since.
I'd also like to mention 314 for the Biggest Improvement Delta discussion:

2011: 8-15-1 at two districts; no awards, no playoffs, no Champs
two years of steady improvement later
2014: 2 District Wins, 1 District Finals, MSC Winner

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

5172 has been good since day one. I can't believe they don't have more than 1 regional win.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I hate talking about my former team, but 2502 went from being a bottom half MN team to being a top 5 MN team ever since our 2013 season. We took another huge leap during the 2015 season when my friends and I kinda had a coup of the leadership about halfway through the competition season. That really changed the focus on 2502 to being the best possible team we can be.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

195 barely fielded a robot in 2010.

The team came back in 2011 under new leadership and in a different structure to win 2 regionals and be competitive at Worlds.

195 has won at least one event in every season since.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I know it's biased to put my own team but we have made very great strides in a short time. in the span of 2005-2008 we had never gone past qualifying. then in 2009 we made it to eliminations but didn't get passed quarterfinals. After that we went silent yet again all the way through 2014. In 2015 during the Indianapolis Event we became 8th seed alliance captain, made it to semifinals got red carded and didn't advance to finals despite having the points. At the Kokomo event of 2015 we were 6th alliance captain. In 2016 at the Walker Warren event we were 2nd pick of the 7th alliance, and lost in quarters. At the Perry Meridian Event we were 3rd Alliance captain and lost in semifinals to the winning alliance. At the Indiana State Championship we were 2nd pick for the 2nd seed alliance and won state. In just two years we made so much progress

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Sam posted our team history above, but going back to OP I just wanted to highlight some things that helped us change:

1.) Biggest thing was restructuring the team. As opposed to leads in each area with one mentor to help them all which resulted in loss of communication between the subteams, we decided on one captain and one co-captain + secretary/treasury positions to facilitate school related paper work (they consulted the two mentors). The captain and co-captain communicate with the subteams (via the subteam leads)- about progress. With a small team we found the previously mentioned system doesn't work that well, and personally for our team the latter seems to be a really good fit so far.

2.) Sponsors - By showing the school that we were able to get out there and promote ourselves, the school took a bit of favoring to us.

3.) Doing well in the offseason competition - the school started really believing in us and providing us with lots more money. This also boosted our spirits after several years of not doing so well.

4.) Dedicated members - In my view, the 2015-2016 year has seen dedication like never before. Team members would travel great distances to use practice fields, and meet other teams. A lot of people got really involved, as opposed to previously how 5 or 6 people would just come in the lab and sit there.

5.) Team Communications - We use Slack and Trello for team organization and messaging and it has facilitated so much in regards to getting in contact with people and delivering a "To-Do" list. This also has helped us learn to be more direct in communicating with one another, and helped foster a closer bond than E-mail threads have.

6.) Getting a start on early - Having ran out of time last year - we started off with a bang this year. In the first few days (2-3 days) we were doing late night video calls, and CADing ideas, memorizing the manual, etc. We were able to order items right away as a result. This helped us finish early with lots of time for revisions.

This list is in no particular order, except the first one (which I think was the most important thing). Kind of me just rambling. Hope this helps any teams that didn't do as well as they would have liked to this year.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

3620 is the one that came to mind as I read this post. In 2013, they didn't even make it to MSC, but in 2014, they exploded. They won their home district, they went to Worlds, and became a powerhouse in community outreach. They're literally amazing and I give props to them. I see the Chairmans Award in their future, and I'm blessed to get to work with them on a regular basis.

If you get the time to speak to any of the students or mentors, do it. They're all such amazing folks, and they have amazing stories.

This year I was the drive coach for 2959 and the biggest support I got was from 3620's mentor, Doug. As someone who's been on the floor, he offered me advice, support, and guidance. I didn't approach him, he approached me. They're an AMAZING team.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

This won't exactly be news to the OP, but I'd like to throw 1257's hat into the ring for all those who don't know.

2016 Season:
- Captained the winning Mt. Olive District alliance.
- #1 seed and Finalist at Bridgewater-Raritan District
- Won MAR Champs.
- Archimedes Semifinalists (5 points from finalists)
- Qualified for IRI

2015 Season:
- Captain, quarterfinalist at Mt. Olive
- 2nd pick, finalist at North Brunswick
- Unselected at MAR Champs

Of course, this doesn't tell the whole story*: they had an interesting 2014 season, with the #2 seed at MARCMP and a win as a 2nd pick at Clifton. But for reference, they went unselected entirely in the 2013 season. I still argue that 1257's rise has been meteoric.

*Well, heck, seeing as I'm not on 1257 I can't tell the entire story.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I think 2056 deserves an award for least improved team of all time, simply because they can't possibly do better.

I agree. 1058 has had a great few years and this year was just incredible.

I'm extremely biased, but I think my former team's (4761's), business team has had one of the largest transformations in a short time. 2013 and 2014 we had no real business team and a relatively small budget. From 2014 to 2015, we tripled our budget and won the entrepreneurship award twice. From 2015 to 2016 we nearly doubled our budget again (though a lot of it was from going to CMPs) and we won a District Chairman's award and DCMP Chairman's award and our business team was able to do all of this with only 3-4 people.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

This thread is an interesting one to me, as I like "the numbers" and love seeing or hearing the story behind the numbers... I hope to see it growing!

Really, every good team - whether just "regionally strong" or "internationally elite" - became who they are at some point. For some teams they started out really good or exceptionally good from the beginning (2056 and 1902 come to mind), for other teams they've been so good for so long that we can hardly remember when they weren't exceptional (33, particularly?), and for still other teams their ascent to fame has been gradual and incremental.

One team that I'd like to suggest is mentioned here may not make sense to a lot of people (and hasn't had the biggest improvement in the shortest amount of time), is 118. They've been building marvels of engineering since I've been involved in FIRST (2005)... it wasn't until - I think - 2011 that they really started performing on-field at the level that they'd seemingly been building robots at for years. Now, it'd be shocking if they didn't win a handful of blue banners and make it deep in elims at CMP! (although this year they got stuck with some lousy team from New Hampshire at Champs to hold them back from glory... * sigh *) At any rate, I think their most representative pre-2011 season was 2008. Their 2008 robot had a swerve drive, with an excellent catapult to make quick shots (those balls weighed 8-10lbs, btw), they had a pickup that looked like 217's successful design, and to top it all off, their whole upper assembly could rotate (yes, on top of their swerve drive). Phenomenal. Watch their reveal video, released at the beginning of week 4 in the build season! Surely they were in the finals on Einstein losing to the tremendous 1114-217-148 alliance? No, they did alright, but didn't win a blue banner that year and never topped an elim score of 90 points. Their other robots of that era were similar. In 2011 (and onwards) they've still developed phenomenal robots (although now the reveal videos are of the powder-coated robots around bag day), but they've won blue banners left, right, and center and have added several Einstein appearances. Perhaps someone from 118 would like to weigh in to either dismiss this "trend" or to explain it with some back story?

148 actually falls into a bit of a similar category, in that they really weren't over-powering until 2008 (and perhaps some would argue 2009), and have since been at the absolute top-notch, world-class level.

195 is really a great example. They had real success earlier in team history (an Einstein appearance in 2006, for instance), but 2008-2010 were real down years... 0 awards after 2007 UTC regional until the 2011 WPI regional!! 2011 through 2013 they built momentum back up with very strong robots. From 2014 to now, there definitely has not been a stronger team in New England. This year I think 195 really entered the conversation of that truly elite tier (top 5-10 in world).

My own team, 1519, I think is also a good example. We had some success in our early years (mostly just 2006 and 2008), but in 2010 we really clicked and have been strong at the regional level since then (2 banners 2005-2009, 14 banners 2010-2016). Unfortunately it seems our luck always runs out at the Championship level... we've only made it past the quarterfinals in 2012 and 2013 (and 2013 was as the third pick of 33 and 469... it would've been hard to mess that up!). Even then, our shot accuracy was degrading on Einstein, and we didn't design the shooter to be adequately serviceable to replace the shooter wheel and our design really didn't fit any role other than FCS particularly well.

Some other, more recent rises in New England include: 133, 166, 319, and 4564.

133 has been a quality team with success off the field in 2007-2014, but they had very little on-field success in that period. 2014 was improved, 2015 brought a District Win and District Finalist, and now 2016 brought a tremendous amount of success. They had a high OPR at their first district, won their second, made it all the way to the finals at NE CMP as the #1 pick, but lost to an offensive juggernaut in 195-125-2168 in the finals. At the CMP they fought off several issues to make it all the way to their divisional finals, where they almost prevented the eventual world champions from even making it to Einstein!

166 had a very sharp improvement this year - which I expect them to build on. They've also been a quality team off the field for many years and have hosted Mayhem in Merrimack since 2005 or 2006. In 2015, I thought their robot performance had improved and they qualified for DCMP, but in 2016 they really took off, becoming one of the best shooters in all of New England and going as the #1 pick on Curie with the division's highest OPR.

319 had also been very quiet for a lot the team's history. Some years were better than others, but they'd never won a banner until this year. In 2015 they showed very big improvement on-field and had a very cool 3-tote (plus 2 can? 1 can?) auto. It took them until the off-season to really get it clicking, but they set the stage for this year, when the fielded a very capable, versatile robot that won two district events.

4564 didn't have the long period to set the stage that these other teams did... Instead, in their first two years there were all the signs of a future district-winning team. They won Rookie All-Star in 2013, then in 2014 fielded a stronger robot, pieced together some reasonable alliances (but didn't make it to the finals) and earned a spot at the DCMP. In 2015 they won a district event and finished as a finalist at the other. They made a good showing at DCMP but suffered an early QF exit. In 2016 they didn't end up with a blue banner, but they did field a very strong high goal shooter and innovative climber with which they seeded first at the NE DCMP with 45 RP! They made it all the way to the finals, but lost in three matches (with 133 and 238) to the alliance of 195-125-2168.

I'm interested to hear of more teams and to hear stories from some of these teams!

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

4818 may not have nearly as much improvement as the teams already mentioned, but this season they went from ranking 58th at the Lake Superior Regional to ranking 5th at the Iowa Regional and being semifinalist.

2175 had a similar story as they were ranked 40th at the Iowa Regional, but then were the #1 seed at the North Star Regional and went on to win the competition.

Both these teams showed an impressive amount of improvement in a single season.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

1678 has to be the correct answer to this thread's question... "who has improved the most in the shortest amount of time?".

Until 2011 they had never made it out of the quarter-finals... at any event. In 2013 they won their division as the #1 seed with a 7-disc auto and 148 as their first pick. They lost on Einstein, but they've returned every year since, including their 2015 win.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

1678 did not have a 7 disc auto at champs in 2013. They did however have a solid 5 disc auto.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

A team I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned yet is 5254, HYPE.

In their rookie year, they did fairly ok, seeding 14th out of 49 at their only event, got picked as the third robot on the 5th alliance, and lost in the quarterfinals. I can't talk as well about their 2014 year as others, but it wasn't a year in which they were a standout sensation.

At the Tech Valley Regional in 2015, they seeded 15th out of 36, then were picked by us as the 5th seeded captain. We pointed out to them that their robot could benefit from a ramp when stacking. Their output went from maybe half a stack in quals to 2-ish stacks in playoffs. They kept it up in quals at the Finger Lakes Regional and seeded 1st, unfortunately falling in finals. Through a wildcard, they got to champs where they were the first pick on the 6th alliance in the Carson Division. They then went on to get invited to IRI, and got selected to be on an alliance with the best of the best, as they started putting up 3 stacks per match, either hp or landfill. They won both Rah Cha Cha Ruckus and the Tech Valley Robot Rumble offseason events as they continued to improve throughout their entire season. That was really the season when they went from mediocre to great.

And they continued this year, releasing a reveal video week three, seeding second and first at their two regional events, and placing 6th in FRC Top 25 week 3 and 22nd in FRC Top 25 week 4. Along with their season performance, they also got into IRI for the second year in a row and were able to get to the semifinals.

Their constant improvement has really boosted them up in the FRC rankings, and they are definitely fit to play with the big dogs. It's been great to work with them for the past two years, and I can't wait to see what they can do in the future.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Here in Colorado, 1619 has really shifted their program into high-gear. After achieving their first regional victory in at Utah in 2015 they have won the last two Colorado Regionals as the overall 1# seed, pulled off their first RCA at North Arizona Regional, have made it into elims at past 2 IRIs, appeared in the division semis at the 2015 and 2016 champs (their first 2 times at champs), and picked up a Quality Award and a Excellence in Engineering Award at champs in 2016 and 2015 respectively. I really can't wait to see what they can come up with these next few years as they emerge as a internationally competitive team. :cool:

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Thank you!

It's been an interesting journey for us. 1257 got off to a good start in 2004 (Rookie Inspiration and Chesapeake Quarterfinalist) and 2005 (Engineering Inspiration and NYC Semifinalist) before a difficult 2006 season that ended with the team being disbanded.

1257 returned in 2009, still in the same district but with no ties to the original team other than location. 2009 and 2010 were unremarkable enough that, without having been there, there isn't much to say. Those two years can best be described as "meh".

In 2011, I started mentoring, and didn't know enough to realize how much I didn't know. I got a crash course in FRC when we got to the NYC regional without a working robot. After I persuaded our lead mentor to accept help, half of 1626 showed up at our pit to help us. We would likely have never made it onto the field that year without their help.

2012 was unremarkable again. We weren't very good, but we weren't shockingly bad either. We had a robot, and it (usually) worked approximately how it was supposed to.

2013 was rock bottom for us. We were ranked near the bottom of MAR, and our low ranking was very much deserved. We focused only on competitive success and had none. We didn't work as a team, and griped about "mentor-built robots" and other perceived unfair advantages.

Our recovery from 2013 started with a few questions.
1. What advantages do other teams have over us?
2. Why do they have those advantages?
3. How do we get those advantages for ourselves?
In discussing the answers to these questions, we created a 4.9 year plan (because the 5 year plan led to too many comments about Stalin and the U.S.S.R.). A major part of that plan was the selection of a role model - another local team that my students wanted our team to resemble.

In 2014, we changed our focus. We still wanted competitive success (who doesn't?), but we stopped trying to jump straight to Einstein. Our goal this year was to play in every match we were scheduled for and to be picked for an alliance. We strove to be more deserving of the awards we envied other teams for winning instead of complaining that we never got them. When 1626 and 869 picked us in Clifton, it was a huge boost to our team. When we got to DCMP that year, we were so unprepared that scouting never even occurred to us until the end of the first day (at which point 1626's mentor stepped up yet again with advice).

2015 was about changing our team culture to a more positive one, continuing to build up our program overall, and learning to scout. We started documenting our work, we made an effort to build up an actual team, and we continued to recruit students from schools in our district beyond the two tech-focused magnet schools.

2016 has helped confirm that we're on a path that's working for us. We have a long way to go still, but the team now is unrecognizable as the team that our most recent graduates knew in their freshman year. We've continued to work towards achievable goals, although we try to make what's achievable a little higher each year. We've reconnected with our roots by getting in touch with alumni from the original team, and even have the father of one of the founding students as a mentor. In the past two years, we've made an effort to connect with other teams and we've worked to help other struggling teams to pay forward the help we've received over the years.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

We had 4 different 5 disk autos that we spend insane amounts of time getting just right, and if I recall correctly we did have a 7 disk but is wasn't worth using.

Fixed error, Alliance captain was 118.

And to think our 2013 and 2014 robots were machined and built in a 20 ft shipping container and a portable math classroom. I really miss being able to say that. I do not however miss the Quarterfinal Curse.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

As one of the captains of 166 this past year, I really appreciate the comments about our growth these past few years. 166 has for sure been on a steady incline for probably around 4 years or so, slowly tweaking our design process, mechanical and software training, and how we express ourselves to the public and other teams through our Chairman's submissions.

This past year is certainly the culmination of all those tweaks, and I am extremely proud of the team that came together this year, and I know that the robot and the team seen at competitions next year and the years following will be amazing.

I did not want to mention 166 in this thread due to a degree of modesty, but we definitely have improved our overall team quality in far too many ways for one CD post. Anyone feel free to send me a message on what I and the team did in the past year or so, especially if you are in New Hampshire or even NE, I am always up to talk to teams about what we do on 166!

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

(Also biased) but 4761's robot quality also improved a lot in a year. I left for college for a few months and came back to a robot that looked wayyy better than anything our team had ever built before.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

It is incredibly flattering to see one of the teams I love so much in here, thank you!

In addition to what Mrs. Gerstein said (1257's head mentor), I have to say just the culture of the team has changed dramatically. Though I only served for a single year, I knew people on the team for all 4 years of my high-school experience.

In 2013, they were dejected and some were angry, but by the end of 2015, they were driven, hard-working people. In 2016 I decided I was crazy enough to join them, and was floored at not how much they blamed others for their failures and shortcomings, as they never once did, but took every mistake as a stride forward. There was no such thing as a bad match, but rather a match where we learned to do better.

1257's rise didn't just change their reputation as a team, but the culture of their collective, and at least one student on the team, now becoming a mentor on another (Hi!).

Though this is all my two cents, I think that 2016 is the first year 1257 has moved beyond being a robotics team and became a "More Than Robotics" team. I am incredibly proud to be able to call myself a former member of Team 1257, and plan on staying involved in FRC & FIRST as long as possible.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

In 2015, 4188 went from dead last at Georgia Southern Classic to winning the Peachtree regional a few weeks later as the alliance captain.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I don't think there's any question 1678 gets the "most improved" award over the last 6 years or so.

If we're looking at the last 4 years, I would nominate 2338 and 2481. 2338 has gone from picking up our first and only regional win as the 23rd overall pick, to a 3-year Midwest finalist streak (as alliance captain or first pick every time), 3 champs appearances (out of 5 in our history), back-to-back Chairman's awards, an Einstein appearance, and 3 IRI appearances. I'd argue that 2481 didn't start out as low as we did, but they've put out world-class robots for three years now. They were always above average, but now they're WAY above average. 2481 is the most underrated team in the world.

If we're looking at just this last season, I'd argue that team 3695, Foximus Prime, blew everyone out of the water. They went from being a team that struggled to field a robot, to having a gorgeous catapult shooter capable of 3-5 midfield shots per match, plus a vision-assisted high goal auto. They somehow didn't get picked at Midwest this year, to the detriment of the many alliances who could have benefited massively from their presence on the field.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

As a fun exercise (and cuz I had the data already in R and wanted to practice with dplyr) The list of teams that missed eliminations the prior year and then returned to finals in all of their events the next year (for unrelated reasons, I MAY have removed the win column and only have the level of competition they achieved) consists of 70 teams in the data set from 2007 to right before CMP 2016.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Not sure if I completely follow. As an example, 1058 did not compete in eliminations in 2009 (except at Battlecry, which is on TBA) but won GSR 2010. What makes them not be on the list?

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Sorry, I accidentally a word in my description. This is the average of their performances. i.e. if you won an event then didn't win your next you'd only average some number < 3.

I could have dumped the whole table sorted by improvements by year but it's rather long so I cut it to teams that made finals at all of their events the following year. Hence why 1058 isn't on here.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

My sincerest apologies. I was only basing my knowledge off of what I saw on footage. It's really cool to know you had so many auto modes and were able to get as far as you did using phennominal strategy.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Since this thread doesn't seem to have quite enough numbers yet, here are some more. The three sections are looking at four-year (2013-2016), six-year (2011-2016), and eight-year (2009-2016) timespans respectively. The "Max OPR Devs" (as they are labelled) are

(the team's max OPR of official competitions in that season - the mean OPR of that season's official competitions) / the standard deviation of OPRs in that season's official competitions

The "Diff" is the difference between the average of the team's two most recent "Max OPR Devs" and the team's two least recent "Max OPR Devs" in the timespan. Only the top 100 teams by "Diff" in each timespan are shown. Please note that they are sorted in ascending order (from least to greatest).

Four-Year Timespan:
Six-Year Timespan:
Eight-Year Timespan:
By no means is this anywhere approaching a perfect ranking of a team's improvement, but hopefully it suggests a few teams that haven't already been brought up.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I can see a lot of changes in the NC teams taking place so I will shout out a few that I have noticed the last 3-4 years.

587- My old team when I was a student has changed tremendously. This team has really started to be competitive and add more daring designs to their machines every year. From that tape measure climber in 2013 that actually worked to the 3D printed and modular constructions they used this year I am actually kind of jealous I moved away from Hillsborough at this point because I would love to see what they do next.

900- Speaking of what will they do next. This team has come up with several game breaking strategies in the last few years. 2014 death cycles, 2015 crossbow robots built in one day at champs, their designs lately have been highly impressive and their programming team is probably the best in the state flat out. If they had focused a bit more on their drive system this year they would have broken NC over their knee with that vision tracking turret shooter. Mr. Zebracorn, tear down this wall.

1533 - When I was told that this year was the first time they had grabbed a blue banner I was stunned. This team always makes the playoffs and they are always super competitive so I thought they had won several previously. Their designs are always super unique and this year that swank drive was insanely fun to watch. To top it all off, this year was no semi-finalist finish and go home for this team. They were a huge contender we had to have on our alliance at State Championships.

2642 - I have noticed that this team is getting steadily better and better from that regional win in 2012 forward. They make solid, fast, and very complimentary designs every year. If not for a stroke of bad battery luck in 2015 I am sure we would have clenched a regional win with them.

2655 - Starting in 2014 and probably one of the quickest turnarounds in NC, this team made an about face and became a serious contender for Chairman's and winners on the field. I don't know what they changed but it works well and their machines are strong. Now don't change a thing!

3506- My own team. I can say what I want about us good and bad because I have been with this team from the start. 2011 was a lucky miracle one trick pony rookie robot win and 2012 was rock bottom for us- our robot did nothing but balance that season.
In 2013 we did average at best and 2014 was better but we really just did not perform as well as we wanted to. Our attitude was more similar to "Man, I hope we get picked!". We did get picked often enough but only to make semis and finals as a last pick with some odd complimentary robot that happened to fit a very specific strategy.

What really turned us around and where I mark down that we have had one of the fastest flips in the state was in 2015 when we built a robot specifically to win in NC. We did not want to be picked. We wanted to be picking. We ranked decent in Georgia and 2nd seed in NC-our highest ever. Despite the stroke of bad luck mentioned above and losing in the QFs, we had worked hard enough to be presented the Chairman's Award.
Losing with one of the best robots we had ever made and with one of the best teams in NC in the QFs was crushing for the team when we were stuck with the season being over for us. Winning Chairman's a couple of hours later probably sent every kid on our team into a roller coaster of emotion. We had finally turned over a new leaf from being another mediocre at best robotics team.

It really set us up for 2016 where we seeded first at State Championships, brought our third Chairman's in a row, and a Woodie Flowers banner. 2015 changed our attitude for 2016 and we worked our tails off with the help of our other Charlotte area teams to make a difference in NC. I say this all to further indicate that we want to see others around us see our model, think about how to adopt it, and meet with the success we have discovered. We brought home 5 blue banners this season and proof that cooperating with teams prior to competition and during competition to elevate everyone competitively at the same time pays off immensely and we broadcast it because it works and we love it.
Here you go other team - take our awesome design and beat us with it - it works for us. I see this from successful teams a lot in the videos the teams post.

Hopefully the NC district will one day be as competitive as Michigan and Cali because of this model and I can share even better improvements.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Minnesota has had a number of teams that have risen quickly in a short matter of time (2175, 5172, 3130, 2503, etc).

However, one stands out to me time and time again. 2052, KnightKrawler from Irondale HS in New Brighton. Prior to 2012, 2052 had won a couple of team awards and made the elims in 2011 at the Lake Superior Regional.

In 2012 things started to change as they made the Finals at Lake Superior and won the EE award. From then on they have been on a great run. Here is what they have accomplished since 2012 (from what I could mine from TBA and from my own memory):

(1) Regional Chairmans Award This in a state where we have a LOT of great CA competition at our Regionals from inside and out!
(1) Einstein Appearance
(3) State Championships (most in MN)
(1) MSHSL State Tournament - Runners-up
(5) Regional Wins
(5) Regional Finalist
(2) Engineering Excellence
(2) Innovation in Control
(1) Gracious Professionalism
(1) Industrial Design
(1) Quality Award

They are in a class of their own in Minnesota!

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

The quality of play has dramaticly increased in MN over the last couple of years. I can't wait to see more teams make a name for themselves outside of the ones already mentioned in your post. BTW 4607 is pretty good too. You guys were the motivating factor for us when we declined the 2nd seed alliance at state.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Thanks for the kind words Chief Hedgehog.

4607 went from being a robot with a blocker on that was picked for defense at the North Star Regional in 2013 and MN State Championship in 2013, to being ranked 2nd at the MN State Championship in 2014 and getting 2nd place that year because of their phenomenal truss shot robot. During this year, their robot was one of the most feared defenders out there capable of shutting down us, 359, 5172, etc. and their team also won their first ever chairman's award this season.. young teams winning RCA is rare and 4607 worked hard and did it this year which is impressive considering they went against 2169, 2826, 2194, etc in chairman's at that regional. They were even picked as a defender in the Carver division and were quarter-finalists which is impressive for such a young team.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Thanks! We appreciate the kind words.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Yes, they seemed to come from nowhere in 2015 and then cemented their jump in 2016.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

2122 has built great robots in their history, but they've become a strong force in the West over the last two years. They've gone from being picked for alliances to captaining their alliance at two regionals, while being a finalist in the other two. Also, they've been captains in their division twice now, and became the first team from Idaho in history to reach the Einstein Field. They are a rising power and will be a force to be reckoned with next year.

Also, I'm surprised nobody's mentioned 4488. Shockwave had an average first year and a world class robot the next two years. Division finalists both times, DCMP finalists both times. They've become one of the best in a few short years.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I think it's hard calling either 2122 or 4488 most improved. They didn't exactly have slow starts.

2122 has never gone more than one year in a row without winning an event. And it's not because they started out being swept along as a lucky pick. They won a high rookie seed their first year and as early as their second year they were captaining alliances to victory.

It's similar with team 4488. What you call their "average first year" (2013) they were alliance captains at their first event ever and had a winning record at championships.

If you're looking for improvement, look to somebody like 4060 (SWAG). It wasn't so long ago that they went winless at an event (2013orpo) but are today playing in finals matches and holding their own at championships (7-3 in 2016 Hopper division).

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Are you including divisions at championships and district championships in "all events"? If so, that eliminates many teams that clearly improved dramatically.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

I'd agree although your breakout IMHO began in 2014... you guys even won two awards over the rapid improvement at Boilermaker Regional 2014. Mike Taylor got a WFFA and Alex Shutte was a Dean's list finalist. Off the field you guys have been great for longer (hosting CAGE match, etc.) but ever since 2014 you've been good on the field, too.

I'll also mark myself guilty of naming a team of past affiliation, by adding 1747 to the list. Back in the days I was involved and the two years before (2006-2010) we could build a solid drivetrain (as in pushing multiple opposing robots at once solid) but only once fielded a good offensive bot (2009). 2011, the first year of my absence, something changed, and they built a competitive bot and more importantly went from having low team spirit to winning a team spirit awards. Since then things have been up and down but last year they were a dark horse and this year were one of the best teams in Indiana (and that's saying something). It's a different team than the team I left, and different in a very good way.

Yeah, it's not like the rapid improvement of teams like 2481 or 1678, but it's the lesser examples that often get overlooked and warrant a mention.

Re: What teams have improved the most in the shortest amount of time?
 

Speaking for 1991, we went from having a VERY surprisingly rigid bot in 2014 that we couldn't find out how it wasn't breaking, and in 2015 we heavily stepped up our material use, design process, and manufacturing techniques. That 2014 bot was mostly 8020 and the kit chassis.

The 2015 bot used mostly aluminum tubing. Luckily, a parent stepped up to teach welding, and I think everyone on the team was grateful. And the swerve drive, although based on our 2012 design, was neat.

tl;dr: Robot quality was heavily improved between 2014 and 2015.

May as well add that our outreach is fairly huge now, watch out for more awards;)