Most Dominant Robots By Year

[cmrnpizzo14]

I was not around from 2004 but I remember from match videos that 67 was quite dominant. The other alliance partners with them (1126 & 340, let's go Rochester!) at CMP were picked only to hang for the entire match while 67 did all of the work with the balls.

They weren't special but I remember them as being quite dominant despite not winning.

[J_Miles]

Originally Posted by I-DOG

67 was pretty dominant in 2005 if I recall. Then, FRC was like "Nope. Change the rules." 67 changed their robot's base dimensions by shifting their side onto the ground during Hybrid mode. When a robot gets a rule created after it, it's pretty important.

This made me think of the Michigan State Championship in 2010, where FIRST in Michigan (Or was it New Hampshire? Not sure, but my assumption was FiM) played an April Fool's joke:

Dave Verbrugge read a "rule change" during opening ceremonies that would have made it illegal to intentionally redirect soccer balls with any mechanism above the bumper zone (essentially rendering 469's incredibly effective scorer ineffective). I remember feeling sick to my stomach hearing it - I thought that 469 taking a risk in such a design deserved the success they god - but was even further saddened by the cheers and applause heard from so many teams around the arena. It was a sobering reminder that even as many people find dominant performance inspirational, a not insignificant group of people would cheer against such a team...I was quite relieved when Dave came out and said "This document is dated April 1st - April Fool's"

[stuart2054]

Originally Posted by J_Miles

This made me think of the Michigan State Championship in 2010, where FIRST in Michigan (Or was it New Hampshire? Not sure, but my assumption was FiM) played an April Fool's joke:

Dave Verbrugge read a "rule change" during opening ceremonies that would have made it illegal to intentionally redirect soccer balls with any mechanism above the bumper zone (essentially rendering 469's incredibly effective scorer ineffective). I remember feeling sick to my stomach hearing it - I thought that 469 taking a risk in such a design deserved the success they god - but was even further saddened by the cheers and applause heard from so many teams around the arena. It was a sobering reminder that even as many people find dominant performance inspirational, a not insignificant group of people would cheer against such a team...I was quite relieved when Dave came out and said "This document is dated April 1st - April Fool's"

I remember the same thing and it was at MSC and that was my rookie year. We did not go to CMP that year so naturally I really only new MI teams at that time but I would vote for 469 being dominate that year.

"Keep in mind my opinion is worth what you paid for it"

[Iaquinto.Joe]

Our team hastily created an anti-469 auto mode in 2010 before one of our elim matches. Our mode involved ramming ourselves into the tunnel to deny 469 access. Well, we forgot that our drive motors were backwards and setting -1 to the victors meant forwards, and flung ourselves across the field.

Here is us running into the wall by accident.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by J_Miles

but was even further saddened by the cheers and applause heard from so many teams around the arena. It was a sobering reminder that even as many people find dominant performance inspirational, a not insignificant group of people would cheer against such a team...I was quite relieved when Dave came out and said "This document is dated April 1st - April Fool's"

It's a good thing nobody could hear the plethora of very off color remarks I was making directed at the people cheering at that. Doubly so that they couldn't hear the words I said when they cheered that 469 tipped during a match in the eliminations. Basically, they were very naughty words directed at people who just don't get the point of FIRST.


I would argue 469 was not that dominant due to the fact that they were merely good (95th percentile at least) unless paired with a solid scoring partner.

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by Deetman

For reference for those that haven't seen this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFBQdQXIuwY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP6tf4OUvIc

Oh man. Thanks.
This takes me back.

[LeelandS]

I haven't been around for long, but here's what I gathered from some earlier years that aren't as covered:

2003: From what I understand, Wildstand (111) has it for this year. They earned their first of three world championships this year. They had a robot design and strategy that both earned them the most points in the match, and prevented the opposing alliance from doing so by blocking them all off from getting to the top of the ramp for the end game. One of the earlier versions of a choke hold strategy before FIRST started working to phase them out.

2004: 67 was almost definitely the one to note this year. The last year of 2v2, every elimination alliance (which still had 3 teams) was required to rotate all robots around so they all played at least once. 67 played in every elimination match that year, up until their elimination in the first rounds of Einstein.

2005: I believe 67 could be considered the team for this year for a number of reasons. This was 67's 5-banner year (Regional win, Regional Chairman's, Division win, Einstein win, Championship Chairman's win). That's not a feat most teams accomplished. I honestly can't say I know a lot about this year, I just know 67 had a starstruck season.

2006: 25 or 1114 could both be considered for this spot. 25 is a solid pick, having gone undefeated the entire season (through 2 regionals) up until a late qualification match on Newton. And all without floor loading... They won Newton and made it to the finals of Einstein. 1114 was 28-2 in regional qualification matches, winning 3 regionals and being the #1 seed and captain of those alliances twice. The lost one qualification match on Curie and were finalists in their division.

[Chris Hibner]

Here's my list of the most dominant robots every year that I've been involved with FIRST:

1997: 71 (They were a different number back then, but I recall them losing maybe one or two matches all year).
1998: 47 (they won 2 or 3 regionals)
1999: No dominant robot all year. My vote is 71 (2 out of 2 in their regionals)
2000: 47 (maybe the best robot of all (in relation to the rest of the competition)
2001: 71
2002: 71
2003: 111
2004: No teams were dominant.
2005: No team dominated.
2006: 1114 (three regional wins I believe, #1 seed at each regional)
2007: no dominant teams, but 1114 comes close
2008: 1114
2009: 67
2010: 469 (let's be real, their partner getting stuck in their own goal is why they lost, and they almost won despite that. Sorry to my friends on the winning alliance.)
2011: No dominant teams (too many teams that were top tier)
2012: Similar to 2011.

[Dan_Karol]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

Here's my list of the most dominant robots every year that I've been involved with FIRST:

1997: 71 (They were a different number back then, but I recall them losing maybe one or two matches all year).
1998: 47 (they won 2 or 3 regionals)
1999: No dominant robot all year. My vote is 71 (2 out of 2 in their regionals)
2000: 47 (maybe the best robot of all (in relation to the rest of the competition)
2001: 71
2002: 71
2003: 111
2004: No teams were dominant.
2005: No team dominated.
2006: 1114 (three regional wins I believe, #1 seed at each regional)
2007: no dominant teams, but 1114 comes close
2008: 1114
2009: 67
2010: 469 (let's be real, their partner getting stuck in their own goal is why they lost, and they almost won despite that. Sorry to my friends on the winning alliance.)
2011: No dominant teams (too many teams that were top tier)
2012: Similar to 2011.

I would say 126 earns the 2004 spot and the 1992 spot.

Alliance picks held them back in 2004, but they quite possibly had one of the most capable robots in a game where you could not do everything. Their hang was also jaw-dropping. It was the equivalent of watching 1114's or 254's this year. That said, this was my rookie year so my knowledge is not nearly as complete as it could have been.

They won 1992

I agree with the cool factor of HOT in '05 but having the rules of the game changed on you doesn't mean that you where dominating necessarily. 190 likes to take claim to several of them (some mid season) but not every robot they produced during those times dominated the competition.


Does anyone have a memory that reaches back far enough to grasp the 90s first scene?

[R1ffSurf3r]

Originally Posted by Cory

It was not from after champs and they nearly executed it during quals at champs. I remember rushing over to their field to see it the first time they ran it. There was some kind of silly programming or setup mistake they made that caused the 3rd tube to not make it.

It ran perfectly, we just accidentally put the 3rd tube in the wrong spot

In all the excitement we aligned the third tube with the center of the rack, instead of on the left. Twas a bummer

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

Here's my list of the most dominant robots every year that I've been involved with FIRST:

2000: 47 (maybe the best robot of all (in relation to the rest of the competition)
2001: 71
2002: 71
2003: 111
2004: No teams were dominant.
2005: No team dominated.
2006: 1114 (three regional wins I believe, #1 seed at each regional)
2007: no dominant teams, but 1114 comes close
2008: 1114
2009: 67
2010: 469 (let's be real, their partner getting stuck in their own goal is why they lost, and they almost won despite that. Sorry to my friends on the winning alliance.)
2011: No dominant teams (too many teams that were top tier)
2012: Similar to 2011.

I agree with Chris' list with the exception of 2006, which I think goes to team 25. That year they only lost 2 matches prior to making Einstein and both were at the Championship. I can only comment on games after 2000, I've seen hardly any match footage or robots from years prior to that.

I know the 2 teams that seemed to have the most hype coming into Champs in 2007 were 330 and 1114, but I don't think anyone truly dominated that year.

[KSladden1503]

Originally Posted by lorem3k

Did anyone in 2011 have a multi-ubertube autonomous other than 1114?

1503 did at 2 tube autonomous at champs! Yup it happened, and we picked up from the floor on Einstein...

[JJackson]

Is it just me or is it getting harder and harder to pick just one dominant bot each year?

[ehfeinberg]

Originally Posted by JJackson

Is it just me or is it getting harder and harder to pick just one dominant bot each year?

It surely is! It's because these past few years there have been more and more dominant robots. First as a whole is improving at an exponential rate.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by I-DOG

67 was pretty dominant in 2005 if I recall. Then, FRC was like "Nope. Change the rules." 67 changed their robot's base dimensions by shifting their side onto the ground during Hybrid mode. When a robot gets a rule created after it, it's pretty important.

"Flop-bots" existed before, and after, 67 did it in 2005. The most recent that I know of was 16 in 2008. It was a fairly common thing to do in the early 2000s, though. With bumper rules and things like maximum extension dimensions/cylinders, it's no longer a viable design.