FIRST Robot Design Milestones

[ajlapp]

I'm an old school firster, probably one of the youngest 8 year guys out there.....so here we go!

1996 -- definately the placebo

if you don't know, you're really missing out. back in the good old days of one-on-one-on-one a placebo bot would be used to fill gaps in the tournament brackets. anyway, in 96, FIRST built a hovercraft placebo, complete with dry ice exhaust. totally cool. Don't forget one of Dr.Joe's favorites Hexcalibur, still one of the most beautiful FIRST machines ever. the PSNH was and is a work of art.

1997 -- everything about this year

i've always considered 97 to be one of those breakout years. the game went through it's first major overhaul with the inner tubes and spinning goal.

Baxcat -- now team 312 heatwave created one of the most beautiful machines that year. a black and purple beauty with a complex tape drive driven arm that featured an array of pulleys all mounted in the base which operated a wrist function, and a tube deploy device. they also had a capper hidden in their pits during the Chicago regional but i never saw it in action. this is also the birth of their now famous v-belt tread which has been seen on every baxter heatwave machine since.(i think)

Wildstang -- i witnessed what Bill was talking about earlier....wildstang did more with that bot than most of us could ever hope to do with unlimited resources. (Go see it at FIRSt Place, it will change everything for you)

P&G Walnut Hills -- one of the last Sunny Delight machines used two seperate mechanisms, one for the tubes and one for their capper to be quick and lethal. They were tippy, but had that cool 4 wheel steering cart...i still see it from time to time, but the last time i saw it, the color had changed to green.

raytheon greenville-- one of if not the only machine that year to latch on to the goal repeatedly and accurately then proceed to spin it at high rpm while delivering three tubes to the top spot. almost beat beatty by flipping them with the tree. a super cool robot.

team 27 OSMTech -- used a passive arm setup and a cool lit covering to have a clean efficient robot. seeded 6th or maybe higher at their first regional and won a motorola quality award.

1998 -- birth of the swerve

47 -- my jaw drops as i watch a scouting video of the houston regional. delphi uses a plum bob to perfectly align their robot with the goal structure. the machine then leaps to it's right without changing orientation. they turn the drill motor gearboxes into new gearboxes for seat motors and feature constant tension springs on their lift. the swerve is born and this machine rewrites the record books by winning three regionals then getting pimped at nationals.

111 wildstang -- yet another perfect lift from motorola. this one handles up to three big balls with no problem. they really become a competitor when they add their last ball in the rail tape drive holder inner.

312 heatwave -- rewrites the rules on pvc usage. they have featured a large pvc structure almost every year since this one.

1 juggernauts -- lightning fast lift, simple 4-wheel drive. could have won nationals but had reliability problems throughout the year.

16 bombsquad -- this is one of my top three robots all time. they demonstrated mastery of the large balls. the robot squeezed them in the center goal, took them out, and even had a suction cup that held their last ball in place on the three point rail. it was almost fool proof.

71 -- beatty handles five large balls at a time, wins an award, doesn't win nationals for onece.

67 hotbot -- uses omni-casters, a first. uses a low-pass filter, a first. smooth reliable robot with a great paint scheme and a solid team backing up the entire first community

88 -- holds five balls, has dancing calvin on drivetrain

1999 -- wow

45 technokats -- super treads that switch gears and an incredible solid polycarb arm that pummels opponents with a boxing glove early on.

aztecs -- ultra wierd tilting drivetrain with incredible flexibility and reach. inspired one of our designs in 2000

delphi and wildstang -- domminate puck handling.....changes how i thought about that year's goal. matches at great lakes and chicago are enough to give me a heart attack.

beatty -- floppy tongue. velcro loops magically pick floppies off the ground with ease

2000 -- delphi

47 -- takes bumper definition to a new level. one of top three robots ever.

1 -- juggy brings simple and strong defensive robot to the forefront. by far my number one robot of all time. gets overlooked at nationals.

2001

45 -- autobalance.

67 -- big ball arm is elogant......they show specialization is okay.



I could go on forever. some of the best are here though.

Anthony Lapp
Lead Design
team 221 --> 857
Superior Roboworks