[Don Wright]

Actually...after thinking a little more about this, I would like to revise my answer slightly.

To me, while there are many great teams and great robots in FIRST, or great innovative ways to play the game, but if I think of innovation, it is things I see that will forever change the way I think about solutions to robot features.

Maybe these mentions weren't the first or only time for these solutions, but they were the first time for me.

This narrows my answers a bit:

111 in 2003: My first swerve (crab) drive robot.
67 in 2004: My first flop bot.
1114 in 2008: using a transmission dog gear and transmission to wind up and hold with a quick fire release.
25 in 2010: their fan suction ball manipulator. We spent sooo much time with our self-centering rollers and I wonder if something like this would have worked for us. So, from now on if there is a need to grab and hold onto one ball, we will think of this suction type device.