Well I don't know who he is but that is my little sister in the upper left corner wearing the yellow shirt. Thanks for the pics it was well worth remembering what Rumble was like. I do agree that Placebo was a great bot. Every time my team (Technonuts) would always route for them.

Those were pictures of ChiefDelphi and the 'uniforms' they wore to that competition... the 'he' was probably referring to Joe Johnson.

Yes, it was Joe I was referring to. Hence the Tounge in Cheek comment.

If you only knew how close we came to getting horns on our 'bot for 02. They were from a big honking harley no less.

We only lost them because of weight. That and the massive amounts of air they used, not something we could afford to waste (I don't think the tanks ever saw over 50 psi once the match started). I still feel they would have won us a regional, or two.

Anywho, 2001 has to go to Buzz. Wow.

2002 is hard for me to pick. Over all, 121 I think had a good combo of ball handling and goal handling. 173 is just as deserving no doubt, but I didn't get to watch them as much as I really should have. 883 gets huge props, just beacuse they restored my faith in cow prints and pretty much showed all of us to never doubt a rookie team.

-Andy A.

I remember the 1996 "Placeb-o-matic".. it's on display up at FIRST if anyone ever goes there... clearly the best part of the game that year :P

Another great robot from 1997 (I don't remember the number) was the Prince/Ottawa team (I think it was there name, I know it was Prince). They had a pretty high reaching arm.. we capped the goal with 4 tubes, got topped by another team (I think Wildstang) with 3-4 tubes and price reached right above the both of us to take the match. An amazing feat to do without falling over...

On top of that, their controls that year for their arm were a miniature version of their robot. They would move the miniature robot arm to wherever they wanted the big arm to be and it followed right along. It was one of the first control systems I saw that broke the generic joysticks & buttons approach..

more great machines
 

I'm an old school firster, probably one of the youngest 8 year guys out there.....so here we go!

1996 -- definately the placebo

if you don't know, you're really missing out. back in the good old days of one-on-one-on-one a placebo bot would be used to fill gaps in the tournament brackets. anyway, in 96, FIRST built a hovercraft placebo, complete with dry ice exhaust. totally cool. Don't forget one of Dr.Joe's favorites Hexcalibur, still one of the most beautiful FIRST machines ever. the PSNH was and is a work of art.

1997 -- everything about this year

i've always considered 97 to be one of those breakout years. the game went through it's first major overhaul with the inner tubes and spinning goal.

Baxcat -- now team 312 heatwave created one of the most beautiful machines that year. a black and purple beauty with a complex tape drive driven arm that featured an array of pulleys all mounted in the base which operated a wrist function, and a tube deploy device. they also had a capper hidden in their pits during the Chicago regional but i never saw it in action. this is also the birth of their now famous v-belt tread which has been seen on every baxter heatwave machine since.(i think)

Wildstang -- i witnessed what Bill was talking about earlier....wildstang did more with that bot than most of us could ever hope to do with unlimited resources. (Go see it at FIRSt Place, it will change everything for you)

P&G Walnut Hills -- one of the last Sunny Delight machines used two seperate mechanisms, one for the tubes and one for their capper to be quick and lethal. They were tippy, but had that cool 4 wheel steering cart...i still see it from time to time, but the last time i saw it, the color had changed to green.

raytheon greenville-- one of if not the only machine that year to latch on to the goal repeatedly and accurately then proceed to spin it at high rpm while delivering three tubes to the top spot. almost beat beatty by flipping them with the tree. a super cool robot.

team 27 OSMTech -- used a passive arm setup and a cool lit covering to have a clean efficient robot. seeded 6th or maybe higher at their first regional and won a motorola quality award.

1998 -- birth of the swerve

47 -- my jaw drops as i watch a scouting video of the houston regional. delphi uses a plum bob to perfectly align their robot with the goal structure. the machine then leaps to it's right without changing orientation. they turn the drill motor gearboxes into new gearboxes for seat motors and feature constant tension springs on their lift. the swerve is born and this machine rewrites the record books by winning three regionals then getting pimped at nationals.

111 wildstang -- yet another perfect lift from motorola. this one handles up to three big balls with no problem. they really become a competitor when they add their last ball in the rail tape drive holder inner. :)

312 heatwave -- rewrites the rules on pvc usage. they have featured a large pvc structure almost every year since this one.

1 juggernauts -- lightning fast lift, simple 4-wheel drive. could have won nationals but had reliability problems throughout the year.

16 bombsquad -- this is one of my top three robots all time. they demonstrated mastery of the large balls. the robot squeezed them in the center goal, took them out, and even had a suction cup that held their last ball in place on the three point rail. it was almost fool proof.

71 -- beatty handles five large balls at a time, wins an award, doesn't win nationals for onece.

67 hotbot -- uses omni-casters, a first. uses a low-pass filter, a first. smooth reliable robot with a great paint scheme and a solid team backing up the entire first community

88 -- holds five balls, has dancing calvin on drivetrain

1999 -- wow

45 technokats -- super treads that switch gears and an incredible solid polycarb arm that pummels opponents with a boxing glove early on.

aztecs -- ultra wierd tilting drivetrain with incredible flexibility and reach. inspired one of our designs in 2000

delphi and wildstang -- domminate puck handling.....changes how i thought about that year's goal. matches at great lakes and chicago are enough to give me a heart attack.

beatty -- floppy tongue. velcro loops magically pick floppies off the ground with ease

2000 -- delphi

47 -- takes bumper definition to a new level. one of top three robots ever.

1 -- juggy brings simple and strong defensive robot to the forefront. by far my number one robot of all time. gets overlooked at nationals. :(

2001

45 -- autobalance.

67 -- big ball arm is elogant......they show specialization is okay.



I could go on forever. some of the best are here though.

Anthony Lapp
Lead Design
team 221 --> 857
Superior Roboworks

I've been around FIRST for about 5 years now, And I've seen some pretty impressive bots, But there are a few that stick out.

2000

47 - The fact that they can get balls off the floor and deposit them in the goal with ease

25 - The long arm that can steal the balls out of the other persons goal. I believe that was the only one who did that type of bot.

2001

71 - The beast was the best goal balancer. THe fact thah they can balance the goals without going on the bridge was impressive.

Bzzzzt
 

Bzzzzzt. Although it is tempting, try not to toot your own horn in this thread. While you may have an awesome bot, the real compliment should come from other teams. Also... we already have a "highlights of 2002" thread.

Andy B.

Here are my favorites form 99, 00, & 01 (well, most of my favorites ;) )

1999:

176 - Incredible articulated arm with extreme simplicity everywhere else. Nearly impossible to stop them from getting on the puck.

2000:

47 - Incredible telescoping arm with extreme complexity everywhere else. We didn't think the arm was the right way to go that year. We were wrong. In fact, we always end up being wrong when we think that.

2001:

111 - Not the only wedge, but clearly the most versatile. Tremendous execution of a gutsy strategy decision.

hey tahnks john
 

hey thanks john, I am happy to see that you liked our autobalance:)
Its too bad not a whole lot of other people liked it tha much, o well there is always this year, hehe(devilish laugh)


I liked team 95 this year, they were amazing.
But i cant hold out on 237, YOU GUYS ROCK!!!! THSNKS ALOT FOR THE GREAT TIMES WE HAVE BEEEN PAIRED WITH YOU, MORE TIMES TO COME TIS YEAR!!



Greg
aka- badjokeguy