2006 Robot Awards-CD Style

[JackN]

Please come up with a list of goofy/random awards for robots you saw.

Pure Ramp Camper of the Year
Nominees-703, 222, 365
Winner-365
MOE was killer on the ramp. If they got up there you lost the match. 703 was defended well against. 222 made a great case but MOE was just so cool when they loaded their shooter. I didn't list 254/968 here because they did more than shoot on the ramp.

Shooter of the Year
Nominees-111, triplets, 217, 25, 1625, 85, 1126
Winner-TIE 111-25
These two were unbeilivble. Wildstang built the most unbeilivble robot. It's pickup was exceptional. Raider Robotix was also extremly strong. It dominated shooting as well. The triplets were strong but got stoped, 1625 was an excellent sophmore bot, Sparx built an excellent bot, BOB was similar to 111, and 217 had a cool design

Dumper of the year
Nominees-322, 1504, 716, 1547, 963
Winner-322
This was almost a no contest. The FIRE team had a robot that just flat out blew away the rest of these. It picked up well along with dumping extremly well. It FLEW across the field. 1504 1547 had excellent sophmore bots, 963 was a great dumper and 716 dumped well.

Rookie bot of the year-1714, 1781, 1731, 1816, 1902, 1918
Winner-1731
What an amazing rookie robot. Number 1 at the largest regional, that is impressive. They were an exceptional shooter. 1714 was strong at Buckeye and Wisconsin, ranking high at both. They shot well. 1781 and 1816 were good defenders, especially 1816 who ranked 6 on archimidies. Exploding Bacon was a good bot doing well at two regionals. 1918 was our mentees and they had a great design

Biggest mistake
Not picking 201 at Western Michigan. I mean they were one of the top ten scorers and they went un-picked. Im glad they got picked at the Championship. They had an excellent bot and to pass them is unbelivible.

Best Collaboration-254/968, Martian Twins, Triplets
Winner-3 way tie
Ok I think any way you look at it they are all pretty even. The Martian Twins won the most design awards, 254/968 were the only ones to make it to Einstein and won every regional they were in, and what can be said about the Triplets that hasn't already been said.

Sorry for typing a Novel I just wanted to express my feelings

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by 1derboy

Shooter of the Year
Nominees-111, triplets, 217, 25, 1625, 85, 1126
Winner-TIE 111-25
These two were unbeilivble. Wildstang built the most unbeilivble robot. It's pickup was exceptional. Raider Robotix was also extremly strong. It dominated shooting as well. The triplets were strong but got stoped

The triplets were impossible to stop. Once they got into position to shoot, you COULD NOT move them. The only reason NiagaraFIRST doesnt have a Championship winner or finalist trophy with them right now is sheer luck. Simbotics alliance partner broke and 1503 (+987) got A-Bombed.

[henryBsick]

Originally Posted by 1derboy

Please come up with a list of goofy/random awards for robots you saw.

Dumper of the year
Nominees-322, 1504, 716, 1547, 963
Winner-322
This was almost a no contest. The FIRE team had a robot that just flat out blew away the rest of these. It picked up well along with dumping extremly well. It FLEW across the field. 1504 1547 had excellent sophmore bots, 963 was a great dumper and 716 dumped well....

Henry's pick goes to a team not even nominated.
Does the national finalist 195 ring a bell? Unofficial creators of the today (CD) named "A-bomb."

[Billfred]

I'd personally argue that 1902 should also be on any dumper list. 1902 was smooth and reliable through all of UCF, pretty much guaranteeing that their alliance would win autonomous, especially when paired with a good autonomous shooter. I wish I could've seen them paired with 233 on Archimedes.

That said, I'll throw out a few oddball awards...

Best robot I never really got to see up close and personal: 25. Granted, I could probably have spent all three days in Atlanta looking at this thing and it still wouldn't be enough.

Best robot to have my signature upon it: 233. I inspected it at UCF (hence the signature), and it really is a beautiful machine, one of those robots that make you say "Dang, I wish they didn't need bumpers for all the defense they take." Simply amazing to look at, and the documentation they have on hand to help the inspectors is something that I almost wish were required for everyone.

Best robot never to change a bit: FVC 4. (Didn't see that one coming, did you?) 4 was one of the relatively rare three-eventers in FVC this year, attending Orangeburg, Duluth, and the Championship. During the whole season, which saw many teams rebuild their whole robots from the ground up between events, 4 kept it simple: Grab all the balls from an autoloader, score them in a corner goal, repeat. If they weren't stopped, it was deadly.

Best use of items commonly found in a recycling bin: 1139. Oh, how I wish my team had the weight to add a powered Powerade bottle at Palmetto!

Best screw-up: 233 again. When your robot won't spin up the shooter wheel unless there's a ball ready to shoot, you know you've got a good arrangement.

Best speed trap assistant: 342. The refs asked for us to test their muzzle velocity at Florida, and they tested a little hot. With one twist of a potentiometer on the robot, they shot more balls and tested fine, saving us from having to hunt them down again. A beautiful idea to me.

If I think of more, I'll post again.

[Lil' Lavery]

"Vomit" shooter award
Nominees: 435, 469, 95
Winner: 469, holy crap could they unload quickly! Such an impressive barrage.


Best well-rounded robot:
Nominees: 1114, 1503, 254, 968
Winner: 1114, they could do everything, shoot from anywhere. I gave them the edge over poof/rawc because they were slightly more accurate from a range, and had a more consistant autonomous mode. I gave them they edge over 1503 because they made it further at the Cmp event, and was the alliance captain for 2/3 of the regional wins.


Best herder award:
Nominees: 322, 868, 195, 1902
Winner: 322. FIRE had an amazing bot this year, and it looked really sweet as well.


Best Auto mode:
Nominees: 217, 111, 1114, 1503
Winner: 217. The Chickens were all but unstoppable this year in autonomous. Amazing, simply amazing.


Best roookie 'bot:
Nominees: 1731, 1902, 1718
Winner: 1731. Absolutely phenominal 'bot. #1 seed at VCU, high score at VCU (99 points), and built mainly in a barn! Accurate shooter, fully-functional turret, working camera, quick and effective ground loading, easy human loading, fast, powerful, robust, and dominant. If 414 didn't intrude into the goal in SF 1-2 and get the alliance DQd, they would have advanced to the VCU finals, and perhaps won the event.


"Play of the year" (forgive me, I don't know EVERY play, so I'll name those that pop into mind )
Nominees: 1261's mad dash from one ramp to the other in under 5 seconds @ Peachtree
195 feeding 968 (The "A Bomb") @ Championship
25 busting out of the heavily defended corner, getting downfield, and scoring during the Newton SFs @ Championship
The breathtaking barrage of the #2 Curie alliance scoring 171 points in Curie QF 3-1@Championship
Winner:25's mad-cross field dash in time to put up the winning shots in the Newton semi-finals. It was nothing short of spectacular!


Edit: one more award
That's just plain cool award:
Nominees: 1139's rotating powerade bottle on a stick to keep balls from jamming
FVC 18's autonomous "testing rig"
195's on-robot display
25's brakes
222's Tiger Drive
1523's catapult shooting mechanism
Winner: TIE! FVC 18's auto rig and 1523's catapult shooter. FVC 18 built a simple little panel with 8 motors (with rubber "paddles" attached to easily allow you to see which way the motor is rotating and how fast), and a vex robot controller allowed them to test out new auto modes without having to upload them to the robot. It was a brilliant idea, and could be easily modified to allow FRC teams to test autonomous and operator controlled code while the bot is being built.
M.A.R.S.'s rapid fire, accurate, long-range catapult system was nothing short of spectacular. It was a truly unique shooter, that helped them advance all the way to the UCF finals (even as the only shooter on their alliance).

[Pat Arnold]

Thanks for mentioning the MARS robot fondly named "Ball-istic". We were really proud of our unique design and thrilled with how robust it was (although in this tough field we did not receive any FIRST awards).

Here's a few of my personal favorites (definitely biased from attended events):

Favorite Rookie Team - 1902
Fun group; efficient, excellent robot;memorable name and best new cheer

Wildest wheels - Team 357
Loved their jester drive and crazy wheels that allowed their robot to drive forwards, backwards and sideways

Amazing Ball Pick-Up - 86
Their rapid pick-up (not to mention insanely fast shooter) was beautiful to watch

Unique Defensive Design - 710
Loved the way they had pop-out defensive shields for blocking

[BBnum3]

Best Overall Bot: 111
We were lucky enough to get picked by these guys (and 1625) at WI and I still can't get over how well 111's turret worked and how quickly it could adjust when getting pushed. They could fire a rapid volley of balls, score 10 in autonomous just about every time, and could also play great defense. Amazing

Most effective design component: 1323's hopper
They were a great ramp shooter, and if they ever missed a shot, or if their teammates ever missed a shot, it just bounced right off of the goal into their hopper, ready to be shot right back.

My favorite design: 233 and 33
233's screw ball collector was amazing. It was really fun to watch them pick up balls and see the balls zoom around the screw. Their turret was great too.
33 had one of the most streamlined designs at the Championship. It was cool how all of their components were integrated. Their hopper rotated to allow balls in to the shooting conveyor, which also served as ball pick-up. They were almost immobile (we couldn't budge them in quarterfinals in Archimedes) and had a great turret, too.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by BBnum3

Most effective design component: 1323's hopper
They were a great ramp shooter, and if they ever missed a shot, or if their teammates ever missed a shot, it just bounced right off of the goal into their hopper, ready to be shot right back.

My favorite design: 233 and 33
233's screw ball collector was amazing. It was really fun to watch them pick up balls and see the balls zoom around the screw. Their turret was great too.

The Cheesy Poofs and RAWC (254 and 968) could also catch missed shots underneath the ramp.

343 also had a very similar "screw" spinning loading system. It just wasn't a shiny or pink

[BBnum3]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

The Cheesy Poofs and RAWC (254 and 968) could also catch missed shots underneath the ramp.

343 also had a very similar "screw" spinning loading system. It just wasn't a shiny or pink

I guessed that other ramp shooters caught balls, but 1323 was the only one I saw in person do it. And I really liked 343's screw (we picked them in Archimedes), but you're right, it wasn't shiny or pink .

[Greg Marra]

<strong>Best Defender</strong>: 306

CRT was absolutely fierce on the field this year. Even though they didn't have bumpers, they were moving robots all over the place, and no one was safe from their amazing drivers. I saw some pretty solid machines this year, but 306 takes the cake for the perfect combination of speed, pushing power, and driver skill to shut down the big scorers.

[Cory]

Obviously I'm a little biased, but 753 completely dominated most everyone they've faced. Definitely the best defender I've seen.

[Freddy Schurr]

Best Shooter- 25,1114,365
Winner- Tie between 25 and 1114

Best Team Spirit- 1511, 56, 211
Winner- 1511

Rookie Team of the Year- 1712, 1719, 1880
Winner- Tie betwenn 1712-1880

Best Defender- 522,306,486
Winner- 306

2006 Best Team in FIRST- 2Train Robotics, Team 395

[Taylor]

As far as defense goes, I saw 1272 singlehandedly shut out 85 and 27 - IMHO two of the more dominant teams at WMR - on opposite sides of the field - AT THE SAME TIME! Incredible defense by the drivers of T-Rex.

Best award - 1038 had mounted miniature poof balls as team awards at BMR. Now the kids on our team want to make awards to hand out to other teams next year.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Freddy Schurr

Best Team Spirit- 1511, 56, 211
Winner- 1511

I definately agree with you on that. We had the privledge of sharing a hotel floor with these guys, and what a blast we had. So, 1511, thanks for making Altanta 2006 just that much more memorable!

[James1902]

Wildest wheels - Team 357

Heck yeah!!! those wheels were awesome. I want to make some now. Plus they were a really cool team and helped us out alot this season at UCF and Nats.

M.A.R.S.'s rapid fire, accurate, long-range catapult system was nothing short of spectacular. It was a truly unique shooter, that helped them advance all the way to the UCF finals (even as the only shooter on their alliance).

I agree whole heartedly there. I loved their shooter for the consistency it got. as long as it found the right position to shoot from it almost never missed. Their autonomous was really good too and helped their alliance out greatly