Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

I don't know the rules from Overdrive too well, would you mind informing me as to why it's illegal?
Thanks.
---------------
No offense to 839 or 1501, but a lot of that defense was definitely by 839 a red card imho (1st vid especially). Aside from the penalty-deserving actions, fantastic defensive bot. But, i don't really want to get into an argument on that, just felt like saying it :]

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

Team 2185....ROBORAMS IN 2009 played defensive at Waterloo, GTA and was picked for the quarter finals in CURRIE FIELD.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

[quote=wendells;1066022]Team 2185....ROBORAMS

Wait.... THERE'S ANOTHER ROBORAMS??? When did they start? I think we were the RoboRams FIRST, but I don't know when they started.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

The argument could be made that it was crossing a lane line in reverse. This was a penalty, and a pretty severe one (<G22> was that rule that year, for anybody wanting to look it up--there may have been another one as well).

Regarding the defense played on 1501: There was a big discussion of that at the time. If I recall, the "consensus" was that the defense was borderline, but legal. And that consensus was the result of an argument.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

I recall hearing about a team that created a robot that gathered all game pieces at the beginning of the match and then gave them to allies to score. The idea was that the opponent can't score without game pieces. I was told this is the cause of the rules that say "only possess 1 piece at a time". Can anyone confirm this story to be true? If so, what team number and year?

I really am not sure this story is true but it is one that I've heard a long time ago and always loved the idea.

Thanks,
Jason

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

Team 1 in 2000. They had a very simple and clean robot that year.

Their turret arm could be used to guard the lift pipe while they drove back and forth on the ramp.

It was a beast of a machine.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

we had an idea this year of mounting a gym fan on top of our robot, and putting every motor allowed on it. parking by our mini-bot tower and locking on. this would have blown all the pieces to our side.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

Team 8 in 08 was the only team that seemed to be able to play any defense in that game without incurring penalties.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

The "One piece at a time" rules came into play in 2007. In 2006 and 2009, multiple were allowed.

The "harvester/hoarder" strategy was discussed in 2006, but I can't think of a single team that implemented it. In 2005, multiple teams grabbed multiple tetras, but because of the large supply, it wasn't an issue--I don't think a single match ran out.

Typically, those rules are only when there is a "limited" supply of game pieces, so either it's necessary to keep teams from hoarding right off the bat, or it's to make sure that the supply doesn't run out too fast.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

I must admit that I'm somewhat disappointed to find that the rumored robot is just that. A rumor. I actually heard the rumor back when I started in 2006. I figured it must have happened a few years before that. At least now I finally know that its a rumor.

Thanks,
Jason

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

That "rumor" probably evolved out of the "A-Bomb" move pulled off by 195 and 968 multiple times on their trip to the Einstein finals together. While it was nowhere close to all the balls, 195 did spend large portions of matches running around the field collecting balls, only to feed them to 968 when the final period of the match started. 968 would then go score them.


I've found, almost without exception, that the truly elite defensive teams are the teams with elite drivers. A lot of teams can be an effective defender with an okay driver and robot, but the greatest defensive teams are the ones with the best drivers (almost regardless of robot design or quality).

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

With regards to the san jose regional, the refs were just letting way too much slide. They were playing illegal defense in the homezone, but it was just allowed to go.

So I guess you could say the referees are capable of being serious defenders ;)

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

If you get a chance, go back and watch some videos of 148 in the Galileo Eliminations and on Einstein. They often went unnoticed in many of those matches (It was hard to out shine 1114 and 217 that year) but they made some really good defensive moves.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

I'll second that! 148 saw a weakness in our robot and exploited it for all it was worth. The finals on Einstein may have gone differently if 148 was not on that "Super Alliance".

I'll give props to an under-rated team from this year. 3357 played some of the best defense I saw all season against us at West Michigan. It's too bad they didn't get a chance to play it at either MSC or St. Louis, they could have been a factor.

Re: Best defensive robots throughout FIRST
 

Even though Team 2185 didnt get to go on to the Champs, they were probably one of the best defensive robot this year (especially in Canada).

Check this video out of 2185 attempting and successfully blocking 1114 from shooting :ahh: :p ::safety::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_NVX...ure=plpp_video

GO TO AROUND 1:40