Best Robots of 2006

[Morgan Gillespie]

Originally Posted by 987HighRoller

322:This robot has to be the fastest robot I've seen all season. They were so good at hoarding all the balls from the field and can turn on a dime. Their robot seemed so well built and they can turn on a dime. Also, they can turn on a dime.

322 was the only corner goal scoring robot I saw that other people would really defend by blocking the corner goals the whole match. They would score so much per match , be so quick, so effective, such a tight turn radius, that other teams would actually have to plan on how they could block the corner goals for the entire match. Leave a one second window, bang 35 points... 5 seconds.

[Don Wright]

To me, it's almost as simple as looking at the team list for IRI. I'm am looking forward to playing with and against every team there... It's going to be so exciting.

[Arefin Bari]

We can go on and on about who had the best robot in 2006, because it is our opinion. So, I will go ahead and list a number of teams who I think performed the best.

1) Team 25 - Undefeated for 2 regionals? Championship finalist? If you haven't stopped by their pit and stared at their robot for half an hour straight you have missed out big time.

2) Team 254/968 - These two teams have amazed me over the years. I wish if I had the resources to build a chassis like them. Get them up on that ramp, you are done for the match.

3) Team 1114/1503/1680 - Known as the triplets, these 3 Canadian teams are my role models when it comes to collaboration, team organization and teamwork.

4) Team 217 - Thursday at championship when I walked into their pit, Paul and the students were on the ground working on the robot, the turret+shooter was off the robot. But, it only took them a day to snatch the championship gold away from everyone. What else does this team need? They already have the national Woodie flowers, and Championship gold under their belt. One of these days we will watch them get the championship chairmans.

5) Team 111 - I participated with a Motorola team (108) for 4 years as a high school student. During the process, I was introduced to many engineers and students on team 111. They never stop amazing me. I haven't been able to find a weld that looks nasty on that robot since 2003 (2003 was the first time, I looked at their robots in person). I appreciate the fact that engineers like Al, Dan take their time out and talks to me about FIRST, team organization. That is how a mentor should be.

6) Team 233 - Do I even have to say anything about the pink machine? Not only they have amazing robots every year, their members are very friendly. Mrs. P and the crew has never refused to take Tytus and I along anywhere they go. It was fun hanging out with you guys all 3 nights at the championship.

7) Team 1902 - A little history behind this team. Team 1083 (Emoticons) fell apart after 2004. The mentors (George Wallace, Dan Richardson, Mike Walker) was starving to taste the competition and hence the birth of team 1902. Not only they had a very good robot that dominated during the competition, they were the Florida Regional Finalist, went undefeated at lonestar Regional in Houston (Thanks Matt for correcting me), and were the Archimedes Division Finalist at the championship.

... I am sure I forget a lot of things I wanted to point out... wait no I didn't...

8) Every single FIRST team that participated this past season had the best robot. Every one of them spent 6 weeks to keep the team together and build a robot to compete. They gave their best to it. So take a moment to congratulate yourself and thank your team members.

[Pat Fairbank]

My favorite out of the robots that haven't yet been mentioned has to be 233, the Pink Team. This robot's 6-wheel drive was pretty much immovable, and their camera-controlled turret ensured spot-on delivery of balls, every time. The "Archimedes screw" was a great way to store, index and feed balls with just the one mechanism. The aesthetics were very well done - if you can stand the colour pink, that is! I had the pleasure of seeing 233 dominate its way to winning the Boston regional, and it was an extremely nerve-racking experience to have had to face them in the Archimedes finals.

[1902_Battery_SGT]

Originally Posted by Mercury Rising

322 was the only corner goal scoring robot I saw that other people would really defend by blocking the corner goals the whole match. They would score so much per match , be so quick, so effective, such a tight turn radius, that other teams would actually have to plan on how they could block the corner goals for the entire match. Leave a one second window, bang 35 points... 5 seconds.

not to be bias or anything but here at 1902 people would often ignore the shooters on our alliance and just the block the two corner goals so we could not score

[Jherbie53]

Originally Posted by 987HighRoller

322:This robot has to be the fastest robot I've seen all season. They were so good at hoarding all the balls from the field and can turn on a dime. Their robot seemed so well built and they can turn on a dime. Also, they can turn on a dime.

Originally Posted by Mercury Rising

322 was the only corner goal scoring robot I saw that other people would really defend by blocking the corner goals the whole match. They would score so much per match , be so quick, so effective, such a tight turn radius, that other teams would actually have to plan on how they could block the corner goals for the entire match. Leave a one second window, bang 35 points... 5 seconds.

They where so fast! It was amazing watching them at West Michigan, they tied us in wins/losses but beat us out with their higher Q-Pt's and where the #1 seed. The only down part of them being the #1 seed was that they get the First and Last picks, other than that they were great. There really isn't enough I can say about their robot, besides its fast, goes everywhere, and they will make you pay if you leave them alone.

[Jessica!]

469: One of the few teams who managed to pick up balls from the floor and have an accurate high goal shooter, I was extremely impressed with the design of the Las Guerillas robot. Their use of the camera made them very consistent in scoring most of the balls in autonomous. When 469 loaded up and went to shoot, the balls would come out like fireworks and accurately score. Also, great manuverability allowed them to play some mean defense too. Not to mention dominating the highest scoring match ever. Great job guys.

Can't wait to see everyone at IRI!

[EricRobodox]

599- not just because its my team, but we were undefeated in LA besided the final round. We also were able to shoot on the ramp and off the ramp in competition before 986 was able to. We also had an all hand built robot with no machines other than handtools on the thing (school got rid of metal shop). I think we had a great robot this year. Too bad senior prom was the same weekend as Nationals, or we may have gone (3/4 the team was seniors who all had senior-itis and didnt want to miss prom).

986/254 - They did the same things we did, just with shifting gearbox and a cleaner looking machine. Great robots, both in function and looks.

987 - High Rollers were great at Arizona. I was very disappointed when they lost in the finals. Eh, i was disappointed a lot from the results at Arizona, but High Rollers looked great, and definitely on my top favorites of this year.

Triplets - Function and a lot of PR on CD. They worked great, and the compliments about them throughout the competition season were well deserved.

330 - You guys were great in Arizona, great in LA as well. It was a great year being on your alliance in elimination in both places. Hope we team up at competions in the future. You guys always make make great robots. I was a little suprised when i herd that you guys did not get that far at Nationals. But at LA and AZ, you guys ruled, except for the cracked tranny in the finals of LA.

All Team- 6 weeks and a functioning or semi-function robot is a huge accomplishment. I think there are many i also missed from my short list. It was a great year for a lot of teams and seem to me like a very fun game compared to the past (i only have Triple Play to compare it too). I hope everyone had a great time like i did, and hope well for next year.

[Bill Gold]

Originally Posted by EricRobodox

We also were able to shoot on the ramp and off the ramp in competition before 986 was able to.

Before 968 decided to shoot from the floor, maybe. 254 had shot from the floor in earlier regionals (Portland and SVR), though.

[Dan Petrovic]

Here's to some GSR teams.

1276. GSR champions. They had incredible drivers that could sneak around any robot and get on any ramp they wished. And when they got on the ramp, it was all over. They had one of my favorite gathering systems. Just one roller that lauched the balls up into their, otherwise human-loaded, hopper.

1519. More GSR champions. Wow. Autonomous demons. They just had "one of those autonomous modes". 10/10 everytime regardless if they were hit. Outstanding for a second year homeschooled team without a sophisticated machine shop.

$0.02.

[LightWaves1636]

At the Colorado Regionals, I really liked Team 159's (Alpine Robotics). It was really cool when our captain chose them for our alliance in semi's. The only thing I didn't like about their bot was the panel they had to take off to get to their transmission. I believe it was held in by a lot of screws that needed the allen key for every single one. But despite losing semi-finals, me and my fellow driver cheered like crazy for them when they got the Chairman's award.

[Cory]

In no particular order--

1114 and company--fantastic, almost immovable drivebase. Great shooter from range, and close up. Very efficient human loader. Only "weakness" was floor loading capabilities, which were still very sufficient. Had imho possibly the best auton of the year--it either made darn near every shot it took, or didn't take any shots at all, leaving them in position to score all their balls after auton.

469--AMAZINGLY fast and accurate shooter. Simply deadly. With a turret no less. You'd better hope you can outscore them, cuz you're prolly not stopping them. Same with 1114

217--Fantastic autonomous. Also one of my picks for best auton. Great turret, very nice ball sorting/delivery system to eliminate jams, and good drivers. Their competition results just about say it all.

111-Probably the best auton of the year. Even when hit they managed to correct and make most of their shots. In addition to this, they had a ton of different paths they could take before shooting-making it much harder to knock them off course in the first place. If they managed to get up on you early during auton, you were in trouble. Very nice ball delivery system to keep from jamming, while still retaining a wide pickup zone to facilitate loading. Had they been able to human load, they would have been even better.

987--Great all around robot. Good turret and ball pickup, combined with a solid drivebase and good driving/strategy. They were a force on Newton. Another team that could sink you during auton.

70/494--Very much like 469 in function. Two scary teams.

25--Speedy, with a good turret. They couldn't hold as many balls as some others, but they usually made all of them count. Another excellent ball sorting mechanism, that was very simple.

[bigboi146]

I liked 375, 75 before their roller system got crushed, 1660 we were unstopable in the corner at least scoring 25 in each match, 1155 and team 11.

[Morgan Gillespie]

While they were not the best team 877 after they removed their shooter they did very well as a harvester, picked up very very well had good storage and pretty good speed. Could pick up many at a time and scored them very quickly. Only problem was they tipped, removing the shooter probably shifted their balance because I do not remember them tipping over before they removed their shooter.

[Kristian Calhoun]

Originally Posted by Mercury Rising

While they were not the best team 877 after they removed their shooter they did very well as a harvester, picked up very very well had good storage and pretty good speed. Could pick up many at a time and scored them very quickly. Only problem was they tipped, removing the shooter probably shifted their balance because I do not remember them tipping over before they removed their shooter.

Yes, 877 was one of the best harvesters/dumpers at the Las Vegas regional. Their rollers were very unique, and they had a large holding capacity. After they got their autonomous mode working, they would score 10 for 10 in the corner goals. As Morgan said, they could expell their balls into the corner goals very rapidly and had no problems with accidental incursion.

My list for the best harvesters/dumper bots of '06 includes 322, 195, 1902, and 877.