Best Robot Ever(again)
 

Well i just discovered this thread from last year( http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...5&page=2&pp=30 ), and figured it would be a good discussion again, with the input of this years bots. I also want people to think of new ideas, rather then seeing they posted last year, and then they wont post again.


I'll state my case for 67 this year. A bot made like no others. Completely original design. They could doo soo much, capping, hanging, blocking, semi-corraling, superior defense, the amazing autonomous, and just overall design. I never thought something like that would be built. Just a genius idea. They simply dominated in Newton, and more or less had everyone trembling at the site of them.

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

That robot was an offensive machine but that poor robot was just about doing everything and a bar runner like 868 was its worst type of robot to face (and this shoebox on wheels at Buckeye that harrassed them to distraction that they forgot to score).They and Webstar Sparx and GRR Robotics had an awesome run this year at Clevelanfd and the Championship.
Best robot we hooked up with this year

(and got hooked on :o )

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

There are so many incredible robots out there, it is nearly impossible for one to say that a particular robot is unarguably the best one. There are so many teams out there who deserve recognition for their robot's performance this season. Because of the many robots that I haven't seen, it is difficult for me to say which robot truly deserves the title of "the best", but I will nominate one particular team for being the closest I have seen to it.

Based on what I have seen personally, I'd have to argue for team 571's robot (although I may be a bit biased -- we were the winning alliance together in Hartford). They could collect balls efficiently and very quickly, cap the 2x easily, and play a really good defensive, strategic game. They could prevent other robots from scoring, as well as score many points for themselves because of their powerful drive train. Their robot was a well designed machine that was very versatile; for example, they were also able to right a tipped over alliance partner with their ball arm (they have done this multiple times for us). In Atlanta, they were undefeated on Archimedes field until the semifinal rounds, which in itself is quite an accomplishment for this year. The matches they lost were few and close...they always put up a good fight and played their matches extremely well. Their team has been very helpful to us this year...offering good friendship and advice to our team members. Thank you 571 for being one of our best alliance partners!!

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

Beatty this year was efficient at everything they did. Superior defence and offense and the articulated chassis was just awesome to watch. And they managed to still use PVC for almost everything ;)

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

HOT rocked. They were at both Buckeye and West MI (the 2 we went to). And they did really good in both. Not to mention the coolest stools!

Their auton was perfect and flawless. The design was excellent. They did everything we wanted to, and then some.

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

I can't say I've seen the best robot ever, given my one year in FIRST.

And I'm not even going to try and judge the best of this year, given that there were so many good ones. (S.P.A.M. comes to mind, as do the Killer Bees ball herder and 237's monkeybot.)

But y'all had better look out for 1319 (aka Golden Flash or Golden Strip Flash, depending on which source you see). Their robot was at Palmetto (and I think they were in Atlanta, too--just not on Archimedes), and they had the whole schimaymay when it came to balls. They could do anything with a mobile goal with such precision that it wasn't even funny. Lots of balls were scored by them, making for a nice balance with any robot that hung. I see them becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

Team 254. I know statistically you cannot make this claim, but I think they are.

I know they and 60 had the same robot, but I think 254's drivers put them over the top. I think they've had the best driver in FIRST for the last four years.

Their robot did everything extremely well this year. Their autonomous mode was the fastest of any I've ever seen this year. They corralled tons of balls every match. They almost always got the big ball fast and easily, and could cap any goal with ease unless their grabber got caught on the PVC poles. After resolving the problems with their cable fraying and tangling they hung incredibly quickly from the floor.

$0.02

Cory

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

I have a tie for my favorite for the best robot. I liked both 71 and 494. The thing I liked best about 71 was that they had awesome capabilities to maneuver around the field and hold off other teams from capping, and at the end of the match they always seemed to cap their goal with a lot of little balls and hang. I also liked 494's robot. It may not have been the most sophisticated but it played the game their drive team wanted to play the game and thats why I think they won nationals. We lost to 71 and 494 in the Archimedes Finals. I think we did great for going up against those two very tough teams but they just out played us. But, getting back to the topic, 71's name("The BEAST") doesn't lie, it is one huge robot.

-kyle

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

When answering the "best robot ever" you have to look at who totally dominated the game. From my involvement with FIRST, you have to go all the way back to 2001. Hammond's bot in 2001 was amazing. Countless high national high scores, National (back then it was nationals) Champions, Motorolla Midwest Champions. Totally amazing robot.

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

469 was the best robot ever because it did not hang. but took a different idea on winning with it sucking up small balls yet having the ability to cap the goal with a strong caping tool with the four parts holding that ball.

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

kudos to 45 for having the same aformentioned game plan with an amazing ability, as well as the ability to hang (but i believe they never had to/meant to during a game)

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

Two minutes...

One robot...

210 points.

... without hanging ...

... ROOKIE TEAM ...

That's a pretty strong case for 1241 isn't it?

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

45 and 67 were great this year... whenever i think of 45 now it reminds of the killer arm and 67 reminds me of the wedge... two great teams with two great robot... :)

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

Well since this is the best ever thread I'm going to throw in some robots from past years

2003: 111...Overall just blew every other robot away..if it wasn't in defense of the ramp it was in its incredibly flexible autonomous.

2002: Even though 71 won, I have to go with 60 and their helicopter style of lifting the goals and letting them spin

2001: This was my first year so the robot that stands out the most was 312 (which one of the first great robots i saw in my rookie year), becuase of the way it seamlessly performed all the tasks in that game.

Re: Best Robot Ever(again)
 

I decided to base my list on one primary criteria – which robots in the history of FIRST (that I observed) did I feel were best designed and built for a particular game. When I got to a point that I couldn’t decide between a number of great robots, I fell back on the hypothetical question “if I had to pick one robot for one single match and they’d have the same identical alliance partners, which would I pick”. Some won Championships and some didn’t – but we all know some times teams just get some bad breaks at one event while everything might go as planned at another. All listed performed incredibly and were considered by many in the FIRST community amongst the “favorites” to win that years competition. So here are SOME of the robots I would consider the best ever built in FIRST.

2001 Team 71 Beatty Robot - it would be impossible to nail any game any better, all one could do is hope to design and build a robot to play the game so perfectly that you might tie them. It was virtually impossible to beat 71 unless they or their alliance made a mistake. This robot (along with the next one) was as close to a perfect design for a game that FIRST has ever seen.

2002 Team 60 Kingman Robot - the only other robot I've ever seen to pull off exactly what the 2000 Beatty machine did – perfect design for the game, basically unbeatable. This robot could not be beaten unless a bad break beyond their control opened the door for an opponent. These two robots (2001/71 and 2002/60) are the only two robots I've ever seen in FIRST where opposing teams basically knew that even if they played a perfect match for “their” robot, they couldn’t beat 71 or 60 unless those teams made a mistake or something broke.

2000 Team 47 Chief Delphi Robot - years ahead of it's time. One the most versatile, impressive, and spectator jaw dropping robots ever in FIRST. Collect balls from the floor or Human player, could score AND unscore, quick, agile, swerve drive, amazing arm – basically what a robot would be if you could genetically breed a crab with a clam.

2004 Team 254/60 Cheesy Poof/Kingman Robot - possibly the most well rounded robot I've ever seen in FIRST. Each year a few robots stand out for being one of the fastest, one of the most agile, one of the most versatile, one of the highest scoring, one of the best autonomous programs, one of the slickest looking - but rarely has one robot ever accomplished them all in the same year. (hesitated to list any 254 entry, since it's impossible not to have some bias based on past affiliation, but after some reflection I still felt this bot belongs on the list even taken with a grain of salt :) )

2000 Team 111 Wildstang Robot – While excellent arguments could be made to include virtually every Wildstang robot I’ve ever seen on such a list (funny thing, that really holds true for 60 and 71 also), the 2000 robot always impressed the heck out of me. Could collect and score more balls better and faster than any robot I think I saw that year – off the carpet and from the Human Player, could still go under the bar, could still hang, and made what must have been an amazingly complex ball chute system look smooth, fluid, and graceful.

1998 Team 45 Technokat Robot – They say imitation is sincerest form of flattery, and 45 has certainly given many ideas and designs to teams throughout FIRST. Maybe because it was the 1st FIRST Championship I ever witnessed, but this robot has always stood out to me. Might not stand out as “jaw dropping” like some of the others on this list that just perfected certain aspects the game, but this robot did it all, did it smooth, did it smart, and did it well. Fast, agile, great scoring ability, and great versatile design to adapt to however the match was going – offense or defense.

2000 Team 25 Robot – kind of the exact opposite of my review of the 2004 60/254 robot. Didn’t try to be versatile, in fact most teams could do more parts of the game much better than them, but by the playoffs of the championship, they were able to do one thing better than any other team in the country with a design that a few attempted but none perfected (similar to the balance two goals off the bridge aspect of the 2001 Beatty machine). To this day I still can’t look at one of those arcade games with the crane/claw mechanism you drop to try to grab a toy without thinking of that robot.

I can think of 10 or so great robots from the 1999 and 2003 seasons, but can’t really argue any stood out as clearly unbeatable or better than the others in the top tier - mostly due to the design of the 1999 and 2003 games.

In the interest of time, to fill out my top ten just pick a bot from Teams 16, 33, 67, 330, and 469 (now that I count them, I see that makes a "top dozen" list). These teams are consistently so impressive that each have multiple robots from the past 6 or 7 years which would be under consideration for any top ten list. It’s difficult to pick one particular robot of theirs over another but any “top robots in the history of FIRST” list would not be complete without entries from those teams included.

We all know there are MANY other robots from many teams that were so impressive they deserve to be in any discussion of best FIRST robots ever. Since few, or more likely none of us ever see every robot perform every year, the great thing about CD is that many such deserving teams will be listed by different people from different geographic areas in various posts.