I'd say, my two favorite robots from the west this year; 330 and 1717. Tragically, 330 can't make champs. I have not seen a single robot that can play as effective defense, that can avoid defense as effectively and still score well.
They aren't the #1 scorer, but they still score a lot and more importantly, they make it a bad day to for the #1 scorer on the other alliance (which too often at vegas was a certain bright orange target).
1717 showed their potential at LA, and nearly won (imo they did win, we won one match by a footfault on their alliance, that's it). At Sacramento they showed that potential can be, and was, turned into pure dominance. If an all black strafing, turreting, powerdumper (and often shooter) doesn't scare you, it should.
Quote:
Originally Posted by roboticWanderor
has no one mentioned 973? the Raptor is definitely a force to be feared after Sacramento...
1717 is one of my favorites but the huge list could not be complete without roobts like :
624
148
1114
1625
67
etc.
really it goes on and on, it will be the alliance selections and teamwork that pose the greatest threats at Champs, not single robots.
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Good call on all the other robots you mentioned, but after our performance at Vegas I don't think we should be considered a top team. In my opinion, the robot performs GREAT, and the only single failure between two regionals is a failed radio power cord (which was proptly made more secure). We are fielding a rookie team, and on top of that threw all precedent out on the team, we have entirely new practices. Our scouting, pit crew, and driving are solid in my opinion (and I'm very happy with them), but we are not a top team.
It was a great lesson in teaching our students there is much more to doing well at a regional than just a good robot, and I hope we learn and improve on this and truly do earn the regard. I KNOW the students can do it, and they know what they have to do, but actually making it happen isn't always the easy part. This is far off topic, but for the first time in my life I finally feel like an effective mentor (yet at the same time know I will look back in 5 years, or heck, even 1, and say I knew nothing). It was great hearing from the kids, "Ohhhhhh. that's why you were such a stickler for quality/performance/continuous improvment", after walking around our regionals.
In the end however, it doesn't matter what the robot looks like, how fast it dumps balls, or how many empty cells it can run. It's how many points it scores, and how many points it keeps the opponent from scoring. Sure we can dump more balls faster than a good deal of teams in ideal conditions, but it's the reality of a 2 minute match many teams are beating us in.