I'm a big fan of 16. They were our allaince partners in St. Louis. they are pretty amazing. I can't beleive they didn't make it farther. I wanted to see them in the overall finals. 111 was definately up there too but I only got to see it in 2 matches.

Thanks all. We worked really hard on that bot, and I'm glad others think so highly of it.

I'm not exactly sure how the rest of my team feels, but I know that when I first saw the speed and power of that 25 bot, my jaw dropped. I was praying that we wouldn't have to go up against those guys in the finals. That drive system was incredible and that driver was able to pull off some incredible moves as well. You guys put up an awesome fight.

Well, I must say, i was hoping that i wouldnt have to drive against 111 because up until that time no one has flipped us, and i didnt want it to happen there. Too bad our main breaker switched off..we still dont know why..becuase then the first match would have been more of a challenge for you guys instead of both us and our partner dieing. As the driver, id be scared to go against myself, and im really proud of the award the Baxtar Bombsquad gave us, most feared opponent. =)
anyway, my vote, of course us, but besides that, i would have to say i was impressed by 16 Baxter, and by 111 wildstang, those are the only two robots that i was scared to face, too bad i never got to go head to head with Baxter....

I hate to make this thread sound like a broken record, but I was very impressed with 111, too. I've been impressed with their machine ever since Great Lakes, and their performance in the Finals definitely confirmed that. We gave them a run for their money in the Archimedes finals, but we were definitely outmatched by an impressive alliance.

Thanks for that, you 25 and 111 were the two bots we were scared of...too bad we didn't make it to the finals of curie so we could've went head to head with 25....oh well, maybe next year

As the driver of 111, I was dead scared of Buzz and team 25. Team 25, your driver has some amazing skill and precision like no other. It's too bad you guys did turn off the first match, (although i didin't notice. I was just worrying about who came to the top, and to keep 'em off). Who ever the driver of 25 is, it would be great if you emailed me some time.

Surfboywanab@aol.com


Team buzz, it was very fun going against you guys this year. in 2000, we were alliance partners, and that was a spectacular show.

I also want to thank 469 Las Gaurillas, and Team 65, Huskie Brigade. Both teams had amazing strategists and drivers. Great Job this year! And great Job everyone.

I would have loved to meet up with Baxter bomb Squad and techokats on Einstein as well.

well we DO have this replay tournament in NJ this coming November......

how about it?

i'm pretty sure the match when we were with 16 was the highest with a 304 in curie... 25 i would say has the best driver and 111 has the best bot....

BTW. Although 25's robot was disabled during a match, our drive system was malfuctioning all over the place for both final matches. I would agree that I wish we had a replay for fun, to see how the game would go with all four alliance parters in perfect condition. I would have also liked to see 25 possibly get full AIR off our robot. Our whole team was impressed how that robot jumped from ramp to ramp. Great robot once again!

my opinions
 

We were one of the few teams (maybe the only?) to be allied in elimination rounds with both 111 and 16. We were lucky to pick 16 at Moto Midwest and get picked as a "descorer" by 111 at nationals. They are my picks for best robots of 2003.

111 is hands down the most technically superior robot FIRST has ever seen. They are so capable and flexible in auto mode that they can build a winning strategy around many partners. Mechanically they are strong enough to survive hits like the one Team 25 put on them in the finals when they were closelined in the alley. They could play the stack protect game, a KOH game, and a bin mover game.

16 has the coolest auto mode of anyone in the country imho. Blazing fast. To me it was the best totally offensive machine in the game with its ability to get anywhere on the field and move bins. I was surprised not to see them on Einstein.

Ken

you dont know how many times the people in our team have said that after the competition, we definatly knew that we could get air off of you guys
THAT would have been a beautiful sight, we all thought it would have been funny as hell too

dido to ken, and i would like to see 25 get air off 111 too

25 was amazing!! They kicked our bot in in our first match and rocked the house when we were paired with them.

heey....I know you! I agree fully with 68 being the most impressive in Galileo, its why we picked them first.

I also thought that 236 was one of the best and I was kind of sad we didnt get to match up against them personally, as we took ourselves out in the second match of the semis, where our alliance was beaten by theirs.

In other divisions, I definitely have to mention 111, even though It has been said so many times, and rightfully so...

A lot of my favorite teams were at Newton - so here is my report.


I mostly watched newton - 292 definitely deserved to be in the finals - they were very steady they played smart and won over faster robots, I wasn't sure about their alliance picks, but they must of been good since they won their division. 27, 254, 192 were an aw some alliance - I think they didn't win due to damage suffered by 27 in the first match of the eliminations. In a spectacular come from behind win over the 330 alliance, 254 and 192 scored a 55 to 54 win. The Hot Team (67) had a very capable stacker that was able to defend the ramp extremely well. I loved team 1114 a rookie from Canada that had a 8 stack going at one point, but only scored a 7 in regular play - these guys deserved rookie of the year at the Nats. I liked the Happague(sp) robot - I am not sure if had a swerve drive or two drive trains at right angles, but it was very maneuverable.

I am sorry if I left out any body from Newton - but these are the guys that stand out IMHO.

I saw 47 play - they looked good - 111 deserved the title - great engineering and good driving. Sorry but I missed seeing 16 in action - great to see the bomb squad back after a short hiatus.

One on one, I don't think anybody could have taken on 25, unless they were a total wedge or battlebot.

So we have a trend here
111 - 1 National champ, 2 national finals
25 - 1 National Champ'00, 2 national finals('02 '03)
71 - 2(or3?) National Champs '01 '02