Best defensive robots throughout FIRST

[remulasce]

469 played some mean D against 1114 & my alliance on Galileo, but D wasn't very effective that year.

(2011)

[ablatner]

294 in 2010. Not only did they help win us and 359 the San Diego Regional, they also played defense against 469 on Einstein and won. They shoved one of 469's alliance members into their own goal, and just sat in front of the other, effectively starving 469 of any balls to redirect. It was amazing to watch.

[stundt1]

Team 1551 the grapes of wrath. There robot had ocotanum so it could switch to mecs and performance wheels.

1551 was a first pick at both their regionals. There robot was fast and maneuverable yet small allowing them to balance. Their shooter could shoot balls across the field with ease. And their ball pickup made it so they could steal balls quickly.

1551's robot was on the top of everyone's pick lists and they showed how awesome they can be. They were a regional finalist.

Nice job 1551 this season I was rooting for you guys in the finals!!!

[mlantry]

From this year i would say team 869 (the best i've seen), all they do is push other teams around and just shutdown anyone shooting at the fender and are just dedicated to defense.

[jwfoss]

Thinking back a few years two teams come to mind:

2006: Team 177 - Bobcat Robotics
Had the honor of being on the same alliance as them at both the CT Regional and Battlecry that year falling victim to their defence. Their base driver was smart and relentless, and there is even a "Greatest Hits" video out there somewhere.

2010: Team 97 - Bionic Beef (then called "The Cow")
Playing against them in Boston was a challenge, and they were had an absolute brute of a robot.

[NXTGeek]

The most annoying defender was sliced-off kitbot with a net. It just sat in front of my human player station blocking basketballs. Then it balanced.

[huberje]

Team 16's robot this year seemed to be very effective at CMP elimination rounds with the feeding strategy. It was maneuverable, fast, and from what I'm told relatively strong. Utilizing their beast of a ball acquisition mechanism, they definitely cleaned up the other side of the field.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Solidstate89

My vote for best defensive robot this year goes to 1551: The Grapes of Wrath for literally shooting a ball out of the air.

When I saw Adam spin up the shooter, I knew that he was going to actually try that... And the it happened so fast I wasn't even sure it worked, and had to watch the video later! It's fun to see an idea you were just joking about become reality.

Originally Posted by stundt1

Nice job 1551 this season I was rooting for you guys in the finals!!!

Awwww, thanks! We're disappointed our shooter never quite worked the way we wanted it to, but it was fun being the pushiest, shoviest robot at FLR and Buckeye. Believe it or not, the Canadian Duck Hunt (above) is my second-favorite moment of the season. My first is when we were playing 191 in the second qualifying game in a row, and as soon as we got in front of the fender their driver shrugged, put his hands on his head, and then went back to driving -- but didn't bother trying to score any more balls.

Originally Posted by stundt1

1551's robot was on the top of everyone's pick lists and they showed how awesome they can be.

I think it says something about game strategy that a robot with a near-negative OPR was picked in the first round of selections in both of their regionals... The GDC did an awesome job designing Rebound Rumble, and I can't wait to see what they've come up with for next year!

[JB987]

207 was a beastly defender... a great mix of brute force, speed and finesse capable of pushing opponents around yet mobile enough to pick up tons of balls and shoot them back to us on our side. They flew through the air with the greatest of ease (not slowed down by the center bridge turned into a fixed ramp).They were a big part of the success the "Pink Metal Rollers" had this year and we are proud to call them our friends!

[wesbass23]

Not to toot my own horn, but our robot last year gave team 111 (last year's world champs) their only two losses at the Midwest Regional by effectively just getting in their way and pushing them around with our super strong 6W tank drive.

[stundt1]

I was awestruck that you guys seeded so low at Buckeye. Opr has nothing to do with awesome defensive skills.

I wish we had you guys on our alliance in elims. But 2 defensive robots wouldn't work in this game very well.

You guys always go to the finals in even years? 2008 2010 2012.....

I see a trend coming

[huberje]

1218 in the finals match #1 of the MAR Championships successfully stood their ground and barely moved at all against 3 robots pushing against them to get to the bridge. While they incurred too many technical fouls for it to matter it was incredibly exciting to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2bQ_frSNlk

[stundt1]

Nobody has said it but 488's defense at their first regional was awesome they stopped a triple I love those matches.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

Oh I love the old robots.

Team 131, CHAOS from 2000. They would pick balls out of the goals like no ones business

How about 111 from 2003? I mean, they won it all defending that ramp.

Lastly, 1319 from 2007. They were a huge reason that our alliance made it to Einstein that year. Incredible defense and quick enough to get back and deploy their ramps.

[Kevin_Morris]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

I forgot my favorite of all time. It was the 1997 machine from current team 148. They held their tubes in scoring position while they spun the goal around. Usually they spun the goal enough to keep their robot between the goal and any robot attempting to score, but if they needed to they could just spin it really fact so no one could score.

If you'd like to see the robot from that year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDUl0pkjkjc

Fast forward to 18:30 to see it in action, we were team 35 back then.

EDIT: Fast forward to 1:20:30 to actually see us playing HOT

The point of the design was to keep other robots from scoring by spinning the goal. It worked fairly well. I have a better video of it somewhere with "God Bless Texas" playing in the background ... I'll keep looking for it.

As for that video itself, it seems to be the property of someone on HOT. It's long but pretty entertaining.

As for this year... hands down my vote goes to 16 for reasons already explained in earlier posts. They were incredible.