Most Effective Robot EVER?

[BenHildy]

I would like to conduct a survey to gauge the community's opinion on the most effective single robot at any game in FIRST history. This can be determined by many statistics, such as OPR that year or performance at competitions. However, this is for a single robot, not an alliance. Here is my opinion:

254 The Cheesy Poofs 2014
This robot, named Barrage, was dazzling from the very beginning. From the release video showing its hot 3-ball auto, to its nearly flawless performance at every competition it attended, it never ceased to amaze. It won every one of their season events (Central Valley, Waterloo, Silicon Valley, and the Championships), all of them famous for being some of the stiffest competitions in the world. Its final OPR was calculated to be 132.22, which was the highest in the world at that point. With only 16 losses the entire year, the Poofs certainly built a dominant robot. Not to mention, they broke the CURIE CURSE...

After, say, 20 replies or so, I will put up a poll of the top 6 selections for others to vote on.

[Richard Wallace]

The most effective robot ever is MER Opportunity, Dave's Other Car that is still on Mars.

The most effective FRC robot ever was the 2002 BEAST (71).

[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

The most effective FRC robot ever was the 2002 BEAST (71).

Most will agree with this. Some may argue its immediate predecessor, 71's 2001 robot.

No others are even close, or likely will be ever again due to trends in FRC game design.

[Kevin Leonard]

Excluding the two super-dominant 71 machines, you could argue for:

• 1114's 2008 Robot
• 254's 2014 Robot
• 469's 2010 Robot

I think that's really all I can think of for dominant robots in the modern age of FIRST.

I recall having a discussion with a friend about which robot was more impressive, 254 in 2014 or 1114 in 2008. We concluded that while both were phenomenal, the fact that 254 managed to not only dominate, but do so in Aerial Assist, an extremely hard game to dominate, given the nature of the game to rely on alliance partners and such.

[hutchMN]

My vote goes for 1114 in 2008

[FiMFanatic]

My vote goes to 71 in 2002 - no need for a poll.

[scott.smith]

71 in 2002, have you seen their "walking" design? It is ridiculous.

[Bryce2471]

71 in 2002 may have been the most dominant, but here's my vote for most impressive / most effective:

1717 in 2012

[The other Gabe]

definitely Hammond 71 in 2002


modern age? 469 in 2010 in terms of ridiculous amounts of field control

[asid61]

254 2015 was far and away better than any other robot. I would place it after 71's OP robots and 469 in 2010.

[BenHildy]

I seem to have forgotten the unstoppable force that was Team Hammond in 01-02. It seems that this thread will soon be dominated by them. Therefore, I would probably declare 71 in 2002, closely followed by them in 2001 as the most effective, but I'd like to keep this going with some other robots. I love hearing about more robots to watch game footage of! Thank you all!

[Basel A]

It may be appropriate to consider how effective it's possible for a robot to be within a game. I think that's the argument to be made for 254-2014, that it's hard to imagine a robot that's more effective. Maybe it was possible for 1114-2008 to lose, but they were incredibly effective.

As for 469-2010, there's no robot from the past decade that changed the game as much as they did. When they stepped onto the field, they became the focal point of the match. That describes their impact better than "effectiveness," because I don't think they added colossally more value to their alliance than the other elite robots of the year (1114-67-2041 might have won against 294-67-177).

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by asid61

254 2015 was far and away better than any other robot. I would place it after 71's OP robots and 469 in 2010.

I agree with 254 in 2015. This was evident by their qual average at Silicon Valley. They were also pretty decent in 2014

[XaulZan11]

For those around in 2002 (or know the story) what happened to 71 at Western Michigan Regional? According the TBA, they were 6-5-2 and lost in the semifinals.

[asid61]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

For those around in 2002 (or know the story) what happened to 71 at Western Michigan Regional? According the TBA, they were 6-5-2 and lost in the semifinals.

After seeing how they lost in other matches that year, my guess would be an fast opposing robot ramming into them at the start of the match to prevent goal control.