Best looking robot ever?

[Kevin Leonard]

67 from 2012. It was gorgeous and elegant and one of the things that inspired me to really get into FIRST.

[OccamzRazor]

Some honorable mentions have to be the robots below. You can take one look at the paint and know which team you are looking at because these teams have built that brand that most people recognize.

148 Raptor in 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XECmOwmYiu8

I think I saw someone mention this already and I agree. Their mastery of sheet metal components and the fact that it can be any color as long as it is black make all of their machines simply awesome to look at. This robot stuck out to me as way above the bar for sheet metal robots.

254 Barrage in 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFZy8iibMD0

What I love about the 254 machines is that they are not the most complicated or crazy looking. Their machines are simple, clever, and elegant with not a single motion or pound wasted. From an engineering standpoint, the quality and performance of their robots stand above the rest. Simple lines and popping blue paint let you know which team is on the field before the robot even moves. As soon as their robots move on the field your eye is drawn to them and you have no doubt 254 is on the field.

Cool robots are not the most complicated or best looking, cool robots are the ones that win. This is why this robot ranks one of the coolest on my list of favorites even if it is not eye candy for everyone else.

[Nathan Streeter]

Of course many extremely clean (mostly powder-coated) robots come to mind when I saw this thread... Particularly ones made by 254, 233, 148, 118, 33, etc. I definitely think there is a lot of "taste" involved in this too, as 148 robots tend to look cool in a "transformers" sort of way with tons of edges and complexity. 254 robots tend to look more elegant and simple... even though they're really anything but simple. I love both those styles quite a bit, but I think I most love the robots that look like they have personality... that look like some little creature going about its business.

The one that stands out for me is 33's 2013 robot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cgP2FJC7Hw It had all the elegance and polished aesthetics that 33's robots have had for quite a few years, but it also looked like a studious, efficient little creature in the way that Wally does, in my mind. https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielernst/8586567293/

I think 1114's 2015 robot has to be the best-looking 2015 robot (in a year where most robots looked more like scaffolding or fork lifts than anything else)... The thing really looked like a weight-lifting crab (or something).

[Andrew_L]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I generally appreciate robots without lightening patterns in their tubing; they look more elegant to me.

[Conor Ryan]

Any robot in 973's Super Pit gets a 2x multiplier in terms of looks.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by OccamzRazor

254 Barrage in 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFZy8iibMD0

What I love about the 254 machines is that they are not the most complicated or crazy looking. Their machines are simple, clever, and elegant with not a single motion or pound wasted. From an engineering standpoint, the quality and performance of their robots stand above the rest. Simple lines and popping blue paint let you know which team is on the field before the robot even moves. As soon as their robots move on the field your eye is drawn to them and you have no doubt 254 is on the field.

Cool robots are not the most complicated or best looking, cool robots are the ones that win. This is why this robot ranks one of the coolest on my list of favorites even if it is not eye candy for everyone else.

This is a great point on why 254 is such a great team.
Even their technical document is something to marvel over similar to how they build their robots as you have described.
This team along with 368 provide a special inspiration to us because of our roots back when they helped get us started back in August 1999.

[TheNerdJedi]

I can't believe no one listed 2056 yet. Their 2016 bot was a monster on the field and a beauty to look at.

[Koko Ed]

In my many years of doing FIRST the most stunning robot I have witnessed has to be 1114's amazing 2015 robot.
2015 was a terrible game but I must admit that year featured some of the most beautiful and clever engineered robots I have seen in FIRST.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Totally biased but 1058's summer restoration project came out beautiful. https://www.facebook.com/PVCPirates/...410607027340:0

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by Cory

I'm quite partial to every robot Team 60 made from their inception up through 2004.


In my opinion their 2002 robot is one of the cleanest ever built, particularly given the fact that basically nobody was making gorgeous robots in 2002. Oh and it was at worst the 3rd best robot in the world.

I remember them demoing the goal spin maneuver for a news segment during lunch time that year at SVR. Incredible bot. During our rookie year we saw their 2001 bot pictured below. No one was making their bots look that clean! They set the standard for make a bot look "good".



Another close one that blew everyone's mind was 254's 2004 bot... you can definitely see where they got their early influence from and PTO.. what?

[indubitably]

I am surprised 1595 isn't referenced more in these threads

[araniaraniratul]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Any robot in 973's Super Pit gets a 2x multiplier in terms of looks.

Usually an optical illusion, haha

[Whatever]

Back in 2002 my dad, my brother, and I volunteered to do a demo combat robot at the MN State Fair. My brother gets the idea of motorizing a full sized refrigerator and driving it around. Basically the refrigerator would lurch around borderline unstable using the door to hit things while empty pizza boxes and water bottles fall out of it. It was really funny.

Fast forward to this years championship, I was walking around the pits and team 5084 goes by. I see their shirts and just see "Team FridgeBot". So I follow them back to their pits and ask about the team name. Turns out they thought their 2014 robot looked like a refrigerator so that's how they got their team name. I got a bunch of magnets for my brother (he has them proudly displayed on his refrigerator).

Anyway, my vote goes to team 5084's rookie effort in 2014 because fridgebots rule.

[carpedav000]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned these three:

217's 2011 bot-

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...36c470a195.jpg


118's 2011 bot-

https://frcdesigns.files.wordpress.c...2/2011_118.jpg


1902's 2013 bot-

http://www.explodingbacon.com/wp-con...re-300x300.png

[fargus111111111]

My vote goes to team 1319's 2014 bot, it worked well, had very well positioned leds, and the powder coat yellow is super eye-catching.

As much as I like powder coating I also like the clean, bare sheet metal look that 283's robots (2015-16) have.