Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

This is for those of us who strive for excellence in dumping and defense, and don't shoot. Post anyone who you think deserves in...

The first teams to be inducted are:

291 for their consistant and reliable ball dumping

84 for their amazing ball dumbing and wonderful drive train

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

i think 348 and 1660(not saying 1660 becouse of the fact that thats my team)

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Dumpers:

1359 The Scallywags
488 Team X-Bot

Defender:

753

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Without a doubt team 322 deserves to be mentioned. Team FIRE was the number one seed at the West Michigan Regional this weekend and they were terrifying. They zoomed around the field and would just inhale balls like they weren't even there. They're the fastest bot I've seen so far this year.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I havent seen very many myself, but one of my favourite defensive/dumping robots would have to be 1305. They are definatley one of the best defence robots out there, and are not terrible at dumping balls.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I nominate team 1902 the Exploding Bacon. I saw them in action at the Florida Regional and they are the perfect of example of "simple and effective." And I see that they were the first ranked team at the Lone Star Regional.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Agreed. To talk about dumpers this year without mentioning 1902 is like talking about Dave Lavery without mentioning Hawaiian shirts.

That said, 1251 was no slouch as a dumper at Palmetto.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

395 is unstoppable. Also, 955 was a very impressive dumper. Both teams were very effective in autonomous, and then would load up and hammer you again.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

My favorites are 1006 and 1138

both are reliable dumpers and extremley great defenders

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

815 played some great defense at GLR and 67 was fairly good at it there too.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

306 definately goes here; you guys definately impressed us at Pittsburgh, Cody.

I'd also have to add 393; their drive train was scary huge, and they could push like mad.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

1305. You will only have seen them if you saw the Waterloo Regional or GTR, but they were arguably the best defensive bot at either regional and they could probably hold all of the balls on the field if they wanted to.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but I think 1255 could have made it into the "Defensive hall of fame" had we not been plagued with chain tension troubles. The times that all our chains stayed on, and everything worked, we played defense like nobody's business. That, combined with almost automatic ramp points, helped us a bunch. However, we had a bunch of problems with our chains, and then faulty code in the elimination rounds that didn't allow operator control. We shot accross the field in autonomous mode, but then couldn't move for all of the operator time. By the time we got it fixed (After quarter finals), 1902 decided to use their replacement robot for us. No hard feelings though, we still had a great time. I just wish we had the chance to show our stuff...

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

213 in boston was probably the best dumper i saw, in BAE even though 213 was there as well it appeared that 97 was better.
so: 97 and 213

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

716- an excellent dumper.
306- great defense!


1394- well, we arent worthy yet, but that is only because our drivetrain is so strong that we A.) misaligned our extruded aluminum chassis the first time we turned on the motors on the ground because of our extreme torque, and B.) bent the 3/8" steel shaft our wheels run on! This caused problems all regional with us dropping chains on the field almost every match...but we still pulled 21st seed overall (3rd after selections), out of a field of 46 (our best year yet- it's sort of embarrising). However, just wait untill nationals; we'll be affecting a change to wheels with a 5/8" or 1/2" hub so that we cant bend the shaft, and adding tensioners incase we do to prevent us from dropping our chains as easily.

drivetrain weighs in at about 70 lbs, and our tranny assemblies + motors take up about 35-40 of that; 4 AM single speed trannies, 4 small CIM motors, 2 minibike motors.

Be afraid!

-Dillon Compton
1394

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Team 195 demonstrated their immense pushing power and one point scoring capabilities at the scrimmage the UTC regional. They also have a sophisticated autonomous program (which won them an innovation in controls award) that lets they dynamically set where to go during auto, allowing them to defend against anyone.

And if they load up with thirty balls and come over to your side of the field, you better watch out...

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Thanks for that!

to brag just a little ;)
We definitely finished better than we started. Last 5 matches we had a nearly flawless 10 ball auto, and scored the 34 points against the winning PNW alliance 254/753/1887 while also defending 254 and 1887 for ~45 seconds. Unfortunately 254 got by us and could score 11 balls in about 5 seconds.

We'll see how it goes in ATL!

It was nice to meet you in Portland by the way. You seem to be doing a great job representing the PNW regional.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

goin with chuck 84 on this one

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I had almost forgotten about that match. Only two robots managed to slow down the Poofs at Portland -- 753, when the Poofs finally had to give up on the center goal and run to score a bunch in the corner, and then 488, which held the Poofs for a long time until a short lapse in coverage let the Poofs do their insta-shoot trick. Those two matches were when I realized that to stop 254 you have to guard them every second, and if you make one mistake, they're gone.

I might make it to Atlanta. I'll look you up (and 492, and 330, and...)

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Thanks........you guys had a great bot also, we wanted to pic you guys but you were gone by the time we got back around. Thanks again.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Team 1251 not only dumped, they took countless hits for us during autonomous rounds from Quarter Finals through finals. They are a solid and truly awesome dumper/defender!

MORT AND TIGERS AND BEARS OH MY!!!

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Yeah, Murphy's Law (which we've battled all year) finally got the best of us. In the quals, even though chains would pop off, we still had enough power to get around. If you recall the one match where our bot (by some freak accident) tipped on the side, was bumped back over, and tried to push up the ramp, we were running on only 3 of 4 chains. Even at 3/4 power, we nearly managed to push another bot up our ramp. We finally fixed the chains by sliding our trannies, and adding heavy zip tie idlers to them.

After alliance selections, I got together with 1902's programmer and put together that autonomous to shoot straight accross the field, because I alone couldn't get it to work. Not sure what went wrong with the code we put in, but for some reason we could never get out of autonomous and back to operator control, hence what happened in quarters. We finally got it fixed during QF3-4, but the field guys for 1902 were getting pressure from their team in the stands to call a replacement. Despite everything finally working properly, they called for the replacement, and that was that. Kinda sucked, but like I said, we still had a blast.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Alright first of all 549 was an amazing herder/dumper and seeded very well because of it.

213 made good use of their holonomic drive to score in the side goal.

1138 (I am 90%sure that was the number, They were from CA and got the best defense award from Team 40 in Manchester) played extremely effective defense and regularly pushed wheel drive robots around the field.

Also please in this type of thread don't post your own robot, even with an introduction about how you don't want to toot your own horn, If the robot was one of the top in the country then someone will mention it. There is no sport out there where you can vote your self into the hall of fame. After 6 weeks of build every one is proud of their robot, use these threads to congratulate those that completed the challenge this year better than you did rather than promoting your self.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

JamesBrown, I apologize. I thought I had tacked onto my post something about team 1902 and their amazing bot. Their autonomous dump meant they began every match with 20 points (10 from the dump, 10 for winning auton) many times. I was honored that they selected us for their alliance, and I wish we could've held up our end of the deal.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

1504. Solid at Detroit, and from what I heard, great at Wisconsin.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

This may not necessarily be true. The majority (at least what I have seen) of teams are from the eastern side of the country. It also seems to me that there are many more users of CD on the eastern side of the country. Therefore most bots 'nominated' seem to be the best defensive bots from the eastern side of the country. That being said, 753 and 1662 (2 west coast bots) had amazing defensive capabilities, both of which could hit the 3pt if left alone.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Hall of famers we probably aren't, but I'd like to nominate my own team (8) for a honorable mention for our work on the Vegas regional. As much as it does feel weird (and kind of wrong) to self-nominate, I think we did a fine job of defense. Thanks to our alliance partners (25 and 987) who picked us to do defense, we let them score and just did our part - block the other teams from scoring. All I can say, is that as an strategy and inteligence guy, I'm really proud of how well our drive train and drivers worked.
Thank you once again to teams 25 and 987 for inviting us to the winning alliance in the 2006 Las Vegas regional.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I agree that 322 was amazing - it blew my mind that a dumper got the #1 seed at WMR. I also have to mention T-Rex 1272. I think they had superior drivers and coaches - from what I saw, they had a duplicate bot at home to practice, which gave them nice control, strategy, and awareness. In the semis, they single-handedly shut down 85 and 27, two of the most proficient scorers - incredible.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

The best I've seen from Great Lakes and W. MI is without a doubt 322. They are amazing. They pick up and dump with ease, are quick and maneuverable and climb the ramp without a problem. We had the pleasure of being teamed up with them once at each regional and won both matches. I'd like to think we had a little to do with it, but most of the credit definitely goes to 322.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I'm very suprised that no one has said 4, 45 or 865 yet.

4 - amazing robot. Great defense

45 - stopped a triplet from scoring, gotta give credit thier

191 - played some good D in the finals of FLR

865 - played some good D on us and 217.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

My nods go to 291, 348, 393 from the Pittsburgh and NYC Competitions. The 12WD system on 348 is really cool and they herd like crazy during matches, leaving them solidly the #1 Seed here all weekend long. 393s (Doot da doo) drivetrain is a thing of engineering beauty complete with their go-kart wheels. CIA, a spirited-team with a robot to match, #3 Seed at both Pitts and Philadelphia (talk about consistency) and Regional Champs at Philly.
-wayne

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I have a special place in my heart for dumpers and defensive players. I'm personally in love with our robot, 322, for its dumping and defensive prowess. There are some others that caught my eye, too, that I haven't seen listed. I think Team 1 had a really unique and interesting design with that "paddle-wheel" collector. Effective and noteworthy. I also think 47, 1272, and 1529 did well on the 1-pt-ers. 314 also seemed to be very consistent at WMR in auto... you could count on their 8 points in auto.

Defensively, 910 really stood out. They were low and strong, and they really played some smart defense. And who doesn't love their sparkly hair? :) I was impressed by the defense 326 played, too. Nice, clean looking robot that muscled people around.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

i would have to vote on 528. we were with them for quarterfinals in phili and they played such good defense and they were able to dump 10 in autonomous, load up within 15 seconds, and dump another batch.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Another vote here for 322. They captured the #1 seed at West Michigan, a very tough regional. Our team saw them at GLR and they looked great there too. I love the trademark shiny diamond plate too.

Some of the other mentors on my team and I wanted to do something similar with our design but the students vetoed our idea (it's their robot after all). They said it wouldn't be effective, that you *had* to have a shooter this year. Thanks 322 for proving me right! :)

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Our pleasure. :D

Thanks for the compliments. We're all about the diamond plate.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

thank you!


i would say that the TechnoKats 45 did an awesome job defending against the oldest of the Niagra triplets at the GTR

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Yea props to Team 1251 and their amazing low scoring tactics and still playing defense. They helped out Team 11 in autonomous to make sure we won and great job helping them so Team 11 can score effiecently on offense itself. Made props and never idss a low ranking Team, because they could be the ones ending up winning the regional itself. Team 11, 247 and 1251...is the alliance to beat no matter what. Rock On!

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

As Fred said, thanks for the nod, Rick. It's too bad that the Pacific Northwest event was not webcast and is but a distant memory to most as it was held a whole month ago :). We are fully expecting an uphill battle in Atlanta with respect to making ourselves known. We have a good machine and comparably little exposure.

As subject matter experts ( ;) ), we considered both 1359 (The Scalawags) and 360 (Revolution) excellent dumpers.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

My bad. Another vote for 360 -- the twirling 'bot of doom (you have to see their primary autonomous routine...).

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Yessssss. 1251. Completely underestimated.

We wouldn't have been able to win autonomous every time if 1251 wasn't there blocking any robot trying to hit us. Not to mention their quick, sneaky dump of 15 balls each time.

Also a shoutout to--

225 and 528. Two of the best dumpers I saw at Trenton, New Jersey.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Chuck 84 can hold 20-30 balls and dump them fast with a drive train that could push anyone at the Finger Lakes Regional.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I think team 381 was completely underestimated in Philly. I saw them load up at least 30 balls into their bot and score THEM ALL into the lower goal in one dump....granted the goal wasnt on at the time, but I really like the way that team plays. very smart defense and affective scoring, great job guys!

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Hey 456 gets my vote. They were amazing at the Colorado Regional, they were a mean lean, pushing and dumping machine. They fought hard and well all the way to finals. Great job guys!

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

What was really impressive was how we came all together by the great scouting from Ashley :) and her.....scouts... :yikes: lol..Respect and Props to them, and to all of those who believed in the abilities of teams and their robots first :D instead of just looking at the quallifiying list.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Looking back at Philly, one really good dumping robot comes to my mind:

Team 84, Chuck. They were an excellent defensive robot and could pick up and score 1 point balls very quickly and effectively.

Also, even though they mainly focused on center goal scoring, team 177 had excellent defensive capabilities and pushing power. It was because of this that they were effectively able to neutralize the shooting power (team 365, MOE) of my team's alliance at Philly. They also have a sophisticated ball picking system, that is elegant in looks as well as function.

While a good shooting robot is necessary for the perfect alliance, a strong defensive robot is also needed to hinder the ability of the opposing alliance to score.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I remember seeing team 8 in action at Silicon Valley and was small, fast, and really good at pushing. I liked it.
I also would like to say that at the PNW regionsl in Portland, team 753 used its tank tread design to be one unstoppable robot. Our team also had to go against them last year, and they were the same them. I'd hate to get in a pushing match against them.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

defensive
1272
1529
395
393
1743
1018
1747
447

dumpers
395
393
1018
868 (*bow down, bow down*) they would collect around 30 balls and dump them at the same time
1741
291

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

We,447, don't dump balls, just shoot'em, but we do play some crazy Defense :ahh:

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

No particular order:

1305
1902
510
1414
357
1522

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

oops! i was thinking about yall for defense i put yall in for dumper. i completely know yall aren't a dumper lol..lack of brain cells.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I don't know how the heck this thread got this long without mentioning 710 (unless I just don't know how to read or search ;p). At FLR they were (in my opinion) the best defensive/dumper bot there by far. They pushed around bots with ease, had an (no offense) INSANE driver who was not afraid to get in other bots way, in fact that was their strategy. Bot featured two pneumatically actuated door-blocker thingies that lifted up and covered other bot's shooters. Brilliant blocker design, and effective drive train. I was very glad we didn't have to go up against them (but I was expecting to have to).

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

710 is definately very high up on the defensive robot category. They are the were the most irritating robot at the Florida Regional. "Irritating" is a good thing in my book.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I must give a shoutout to 8 here. They were incredible at what we had them do. Each round we gave them the robot to watch out for. Each round, they did it, flawlessly. Thursday morning when we had a practice match with them, I took notice of them and immediately knew they would be a threat. To our chagrin, they were their for the 16th pick of the draft, and I knew we had to take them. I had them pegged as a mid to late First rounder. While they played their d-game, they also popped off a few rounds every now and then, hitting almost every ball.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Agreed, guys if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing 710 play some defense just wait until nationals. They kept it simple simple simple, extraordinarily powerful drive train and some innovative "Shot Blockers" to boot. Its hard enough to shoot when you've got a solid drive train pushing you around, now add a meshy pvc giant rejection hand in your face its great. Also a great defensive/offensive protector autonomous, they were the only ones that got close to stopping our autonomous by pinning us to the wall. ( thats why we had to speed it up and hit the wall so fast.. sorry Houston playing field!! ) Also in order to protect 86 they fly out in front in the semi finals and I believe take out 2 robots heading for them.

Add in the fast as lightning factor and the two speeds for pushing and you've got a beast that will have its way with your bot. I can't wait to see these guys go against some of the best. If I recall correctly their drivers and coach aren't too bad either.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

716, 195, an 176 (not saying b/c it's my team) all should get mentioned for their amazing ball collecting an dumping skills. I watched in awe as all 3 of these bots picked up many balls an just dumped them all to get sometimes 20pts in the 1 pt goal. They were all able to collect 15+ balls and when they dumped them they never failed! Great robots!

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Here are all of the teams mentioned so far, and in what order... Still has duplicates.

291
84
1660
1359
488
753
322
1305
1902
1902
1251
395
955
1006
1138
1421
815
67
306
393
1305
97
213
716
306
195
84
753
488
254
1251
213
1138
1902
1504
753
1662
322
322
4
45
191
865
348
393
910
326
528
322
1251
1359
360
360
1251
225
528
84
381
456
84
177
753
1305
1902
510
1414
357
1522
710
710
8
710
716
195
176

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I'm from 1732, and was a driver, and I don't think we were up against a robot that could push us. We used 4 CIM motors, and had 6 IFI high traction wheels. YAY for brute force. :D

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Soo, here's a list of each team mentioned and how many votes each received.

Team #--Times mentioned

322-------4
753-------4
1251------4
1902------4
84--------3
710-------3
1305------3
195-------2
213-------2
306-------2
360-------2
393-------2
488-------2
528-------2
716-------2
1138------2
1359------2
4----------1
8----------1
45--------1
67--------1
97--------1
176-------1
177-------1
191-------1
225-------1
291-------1
326-------1
348-------1
354-------1
357-------1
395-------1
510-------1
815-------1
865-------1
910-------1
955-------1
1006------1
1414------1
1421------1
1504------1
1522------1
1660------1
1662------1

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Can we further divide these lists between those listed as 'dumpers' as those as 'defenders'? Dumping and defense, while useful in tandem, need not go hand in hand.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I wouldn't take much merit in the scientific usefullness of these type of "surveys" because mostly people vote on robots and teams they have seen and sometimes they vote on teams just because they like them.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I agree that there really isn't much "scientific usefulness" in these, but I'm just doing it for fun. It also would be fun to see a robot in ATL that I remember from these surveys, and see that they really are a good robot.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

The survey would have some merit, if the dumpers are listed, we'll see in Atlanta.
From the web-cast, I identify # 581 as a dumper, winning at the Silicon Valley regional and # 1272 at the Boilermaker. Both were never mentioned.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

At Davis, we saw some pretty good "bottom-feeders" (namely, dumpers) including 955. 753 had a sipectacular defense, but it was a shame that we couldn't play against them at their full capacity in the final-final match. But any way it goes, I'm glad to see that they won their way to Atlanta, so I'll be glad to see them play once again. Oh yeah, and how could I forget 1006 from Canada? They played well, displayed lots of team spirit, and really made the Phoenix Regoinal a fun place to be.

Also, check out this video of our autonomous in action (center position, blue alliance). I just thought I'd throw our team out there for people to judge.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I would have to say Zeus, (cant think of the name or number atm), it was a great bot that helped us and defended us all the way until the last match of the day in the championship match3. I wish Zeus would have gone with us :( unfortunately their robot had some problems with a drive chain if i remember correctly.

Pavan

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

thanks so much i was extremely proud of how string we sere defensively. it along with the amazing shooting of 469 and 480(correct me if im wrong) got us to the finals where we lost to a amazing alliance. we hope to see u guys at nationals. 469 it could be great to work with u guys again

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Dumper:1414
Defender:1002

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

It seems like this has turned into the shameless plug thread, so I might as well put our name out there.

Team 195 has what it takes to win matches, against anyone. With the ability to pick balls off the floor while driving 11 ft per second and human load, gathering a load of 30 balls is no sweat. The robot can scoot from one side of the field to the other in 5 seconds flat, and shoot every ball it has into the corner goal in another 5 seconds.

This robot has a very effective autonomous mode. It uses 3 PID systems to control heading, speed/distance traveled, and its location relative to the wall. The robot takes off at full speed toward the side goal, and slows down to a smooth stop, dropping 10 every time. Closed loop control ensures the robot is in the right place to drop the balls, even when teams come from behind or the side to knock the bot off course. Team 195 did not lose an auto mode at the UTC regional. Not one.

The Knight's drive train is powered by a 4 motor, 2 speed shift on the fly transmission with nominal speeds of 11 ft/s in high and 4.7 ft/s in low. The power is directly transmitted to a pair of Brecoflex endless belts. The system has been tuned to perfection and is capable of pushing just about anyone out there. Team 195 was the only team able to stop Team 20 in qualification rounds at the UTC regional, ending their 25esque winning streak.



Team 195 is in Newton, home of some of the most powerful shooting robots in the world. Many amazing alliances will be formed with these shooters. Team 195, the Cyber Knights, would love to complete any of these alliances as the third partner, and bring some high quality New England Defense to the table. :)

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I'm posting this for all the "non well known" teams this year that are good and haven't been recognized. If you are reading this and your robot isn't mentioned here's what you do. If you are attending Nationals go out there on your field and show them who you are. Make yourselves known. Strive to make yourselves one of the best so next year people can be like "I remember you guys from last year" You guys were good. I know what it's like. This year out of our teams 7 year history this is one of our best robots ever. We use 4 CIM Motors and a 2-speed Transmission that is customely built by us and we have treads. In High speed we are about 13.5 ft/sec and low gear about 4 ft/sec. We are really strong in Defense. In Philly we pushed around 2 robots at the same time and when needed to collect balls we shift by pneumatic shifter into high gear and zoom around the field to collect and dump them. In Detroit we got Auto mode 10 balls 9-10 times attempted. In Philly we were considered in the top category of low ball herders and dumpers forum. I think the reason that we weren't mentioned in this forum is because we aren't a well known team like CHUCK and CIA, we are just the robocats from a small town Girard Ohio who is more known for our "Fund-raising ethics and community service" and "Red Shiny Pom-Poms" then by our "robot". That's why I said to the teams that weren't mentioned here to go to the Championship and give all the teams a memory of your team because it gives people something to talk about.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

1549 for sure. Undefeated in GLR seed matches and we never shot a ball!

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

My top five dumpers
1.322
2.1504
3.963
4.123
5.1747

My Top defenders
1.872
2.503
3.322
4.1272
5.451
6.1781

I think the best dumper far and away is 322. The F.I.R.E Team built a robot that FLYS around the field at the speed of sound and dumps extremely well. 1747 is an excellent dumper. How they weren't picked at Boilermaker boggles my mind. Geo-Motion is a great robot as well. Gina Sweet and the rest of the gang at 1504 really designed an excellent bot. It ground loads as well as Wildstang, and that is saying something. Team 963 and Team 123 were both at Buckeye. They were members of the number one aliance. They both were able to score very well and both loaded well

My top defenders is an interesting list. Team 872 is the only purely defensive robot that i have seen be a picker. That thing is the best defensive machine that was built all year. It moved very well and pushed well. Team 1272 had what may be the greatest defensive play this year (Look at my post for Best Matches). 503 and 451 were excellent defenders and also were able to shoot. 1781 was a strong defender at Wisconsin. They were able to push team 1625 around in the finals. You notice team 322 in the defenders list. They are an excellent defensive robot as well.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Dumper- By far, Chuck 84 can dump like mad crazy cows jumping over the moon. 30 pts like that

Defensive: I don't want to toot my own horn, by I feel Team 204 has a shot. We can push two robots at the same time and block whoever is shooting. Majority of our matches came down to us to play defense. Also, we can play anyone who shoots on the ramp.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Thanks for the compliments on 322..........we learned everything we know about defense from your 2004 robot blocking hangers on the platform.....you were unstoppable and proved at least one great defensive bot is needed in an alliance to win the big show. Especially this year. :ahh:

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Though I haven't seen much. I have this want to nominate my own team for an honorable mention in the dumping category this year. But I have to give my awards to:

175 - saw 'em at Chesapeake and heard about their performance at BAE..awesome dumper

56 - excellent dumper/shooter hybrid; (it could shoot really well into those corner goals)

1524 - excellent harvester; I wish it were not the only thing that team could do

Defense:

1184 - Absolutely excellent on defense. Nobody could get past them (or prevent them for harassing 339).

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

yes, 753 at sacramento/ucdavis regional was amazing and could push allmost anyone around with their amazing tank treads. However 1662 was one of the few who could hold their own aginst 753 in pushing and that is why we chose them four our winning alliance sacramento.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

1726 was a great long-range dumper. Simple, well-built and effective. They were Davis regional winners. And they're a rookie team!

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

I believe that at this point, 195 has cemented themselves a place in this thread. Beautiful strategy, executed at exactly the right time, pulled their alliance out of a tough spot.

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

Yep, great job to 195 keeping at least one "Herder" on the big field. :)

Re: Defensive/dumper hall of fame
 

2006 was a really easy year for autonomous. All our robot had to do was have a preassigned distance it would go forward and then dump. All 10 balls every time + the 10 extra points for winning autonomous, that's a 20 point lead right off the bat.