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Was clicking through CD-Media, and saw this picture.
I wanted to bump it up, so all the "younguns" in FIRST see it.

"Inspiration"

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Two of the greatest robots in FIRST history. I look at this picture and I remember why I'm here today. Seeing robots like this when I was younger made me say "Dang, I want to be that good. I want to make things that cool".

A little bit of background on these two robots. In the year 2000, Team 47 built what is widely considered one of the three best robots in FIRST history. It played the game flawlessly. Scoring at will, descoring when they needed to. A ridiculously smooth swerve drive that was years ahead of it's time. It was really a work of art. Team 111 created an offensive beast. A huge ball capacity, and an elevator that never jammed, in a year where everyone was constantly in a ball jam. These two robots were phenoms. At the 2000 Midwest Regional, these two teams hooked up along with Team 45, forming what is considered by many as the greatest alliance of all time.

Thanks for the bump John, this made my day.

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...or "domination"?

111+47
 

Ha! To me, being dominated IS inspiring. ;)

JV

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I couldn't agree more with Karthik. I was lucky enough to participate in that regional and see this awesome alliance. To me, this was by far the most dominant alliance in the history of FIRST. I've never seen anything like it. In fact, a number of us FIRST old folks were talking about this very alliance at a gathering in Toronto this past year.

You really had to see Chief Delphi that year to really appreciate how good that robot really was. That robot was really in a different league from everyone else. My analogy that I told people from that year is that it looked like an NBA player came back to play a game with the JV basketball team. They were really that impressive. Add one of Wildstang's best creations into the mix, and an always good TechnoKat team, and it was like the Perfect Storm.

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we never got to play 47 and 111 why did they lose?

shaun

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The experience was so awesome I can't even remember much about it!!! I will say that the experience was the sole factor for me being so heavily involved with the TechnoKats during HS though.

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They went on to win the Midwest regional that year. As for why these teams lost at the championship, they were both knocked out by the powerful alliance of 126, 131 & 102. Team 47 was the number 9 seed, who declined to hold their pick, and selected 312 and 201. This alliance had championship written all over them, but a broken weld in the quarterfinals led to the end of their amazing season. As for 111, they were the first over all pick in the draft by Team 80, and the alliance was rounded out by 175. This alliance was not well rounded enough to take on the Gael Force alliance. The Gael Force alliance made it all the way to the finals, where they were defeated by 255, 232 & 25. I'm sure you could better elucidate in regards to that alliance. :)

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I've said it before and I'll say it again, the 2000 CD robot scared the crap out of me. From the time I first saw it play in the NJ regional while we were scouting, to the time that they left Einstein after we beat them, it was a robot to fear and respect.

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Thanks John for bringing this up to the front page. The Rutgers regional in 2000 was my first as a driver and I remember just being in awe of 47 the entire time. During the playoffs the crowd went crazy when 303 managed to block them from scoring in either the quarters or semis. 111 was incredible that year as well.

Thanks for reviving some old memories!

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Best game EVER! :ahh:

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Those are some amazing looking robots... wow.

Karthik, your amazing knowledge of the history of FIRST is amazing. I only wish there was the Karthik FIRST encyclopedia to learn about the history of FIRST :p

edit: are there any videos of those beauty's in action?

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I had the pleasure of being the field coach for 45 at that regional. I recall going into the "alliance meeting" after we got picked. Keep in mind that this was still the time when FIRST had 3 team alliances in the finals, but only 2 played on the field once. One had to sit. And... this was before there was any mandate of making the sitting team play a match at all.

(Obviously, 47 and 111 had two great robots that year. We were pretty good, being finalists at Great Lakes, along with being the 16th overall pick at the Championships (thanks, 22!).)

Essentially, the coaches for 47 and 111 asked us if we would like to play in the finals. We said "yes... but we don't want to bring down the alliance... we are happy to ride your coattails to a Championship". I think we played 1 or 2 matches throughout 3 rounds. There was really no need for us to do more. Being paired with 2 teams we respect greatly and seeing these 2 robots perform at their best was inspiration to us all.

Andy B.

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I have the last half of the QF's and all of the finals (from Nationals) on DVD if you're ever in New England and want to snag a copy from me.
I watch the old matches every once in a while for kicks. I'm probably starting to turn into Uncle Rico, though. So, watch out!