[neilsonster]

Seeing as how I only personally attended the two Canadian regionals this year, I'll say that the NiagaraFIRST teams were some of the most consistent I saw. I'd say their strongest points are the tank treads that make it so only the more powerful robots can do anything and their extremely effective collecting/loading system.

Although this might seem like not that big of a deal, the Niagara teams probably had the most effective human-loading design of any other robot out there. Their simple "baskets" were made with an open front-end so that their human player could get nearly every single ball in without having to worry about over-throwing or being too precise. With help from other human players on the alliance there was hardly a single ball wasted since every ball that entered one of those robots generally made it into the center goal. Take a look at any video of these robots being loaded and you'll see what I mean.

Now as far as my favourite robot goes... I loved the Thunderchickens! Their robot just looks so cool and works so well. Fantastic design... especially the Wheel of Doom... I just loved watching that thing being loaded!