Best Ball Collecting device of 2002
 

Teams this year had some awesome ways of collecting and scoring balls, what were some of your favorites?



There was a team at MMR that had this ball collector that sucked balls up and rolled them on this rube goldberg like device and then it stopped on this flipper that a push of a button, flipped the ball into the basket. It was one of the coolest design I saw.

*Edit: It wasnt as fast or effective, but it was really cool to watch


Note to anyone who went to MMR: Do you remember what team it was, i am sure it was in the 500s.

Easy

173 and Buzz Robotics

yea, i liked the team with the corkscrew design. I forget who it was... but it sucked up the balls.. span em up this corkscrew lookin device.. and spit it out into the goal.. it was quality...

I think that 157 had the best, and loudest ball collection system.

dont forget team 95
 

dont forget about our 20 balls in 5 secs.:D heres the video again for those how havent seen it yet

The best ball collection system I saw the whole year was 86's...fast, and the basket hold around 40 balls...I think it took 30 seconds to sweep the whole field for balls and dump them...

It even had nice horizontal rollers to help run the edge...

Plus it made pac man noises when it collected and a toilet flushing when it dumped!!

86 as definitely the most amusing in my eyes... the pacman sounds were key... all nostalgic and stuff:)

I don't know which one I liked the best, but I was impressed by 16, 111, 67, 45, and 86. All had good, solid robots with good ball-handling capability.

/me grrrs... What happened to team 5's system of getting the balls into the goal?!?! Anyone what went to the GLR or the CR saw us in action, and we kicked @$$!!! That was so cool!! But i do have mad-props for 47, they where cool!

95 for sure. You could blink and suddenly there'd be no balls left out there.

i think 121 was pretty cool. many teams had trouble getting rid of the balls after they collected them in a basket. they however made the basket move up and become a 45 degree sloped surface which made sure that all balls went in. i think they got pretty far in the championships too.

Theres more then meets the eye...

Getting the balls was one thing, getting them in a goal was a whole other challenge. Lot's of teams could do one or the other very well, but not so many could do both fast enough or reliably enough. It's great if you can get 20 balls in 5 seconds, being able to dump them in 5 seconds to is a real advantage. After that, things like gear switching and strong brakes really help ball collectors.

My picks for top ball handlers would be 173 or 175. 173 didn't have the capacity of a lot of other ball 'bots, but they made up for it with consistent accuracy and a strong drive. 175 had great capacity along with a switching drive and strong goal claw. These two in my mind had the best balence of goal handling and ball handling needed to be excellent in both qualification and finals.

Now, thats not to say 95 isn't up there on my list...

-Andy

Re: dont forget team 95
 

Oh yeah! 95 was incredable. When they first went out, during the practice rounds, they scooped 20 balls, an entire side, in a clean swoop.

Let me tell you, all the strategy people in the stands began scribbling into palm pilots, writing on papers, sobbing into hankies, or a combination thereof...

Team 95: definitly the sweetest ball getter out there: even now, I associate grasshoppers with soccer balls:D

In order to be the best ball bot, you have to be able to not only pick balls up fast and reliably, you have to be able to control them and dump them with confidence. Teams 95 and Buzz 175 were awesome at picking up the balls with lightning speed, but when it came to dumping, balls often got stuck. Im not a fan of the basket because it often required alot of shaking to get all the balls out and some end up missing. RAGE 173 was also a great ball picker upper, not as quick as 95 and 175, but they clearly had the best control of the balls. They were able to drop the off frontwards and backwards with percision everytime. This is what i think makes a great ball bot. Being able to control the goal after the balls are in it is important too, so thats why I am giving a joint award to 173 and 175. congrats.