Best Robots by Age

[MCarron]

OK, I'm not one to boast my team, but I feel compelled to throw our team in as best for 2000 over 341 or 365. Team #343 Metal-In-Motion. We were the National Rookie All-Star in 2000, obviously nobody else can claim that title. We have won seven regionals, a curie division, were a national finalist in 2003 with 25 and 494 as the #1 seed. We have also won two regional Chairman's awards and the national engineering inspiration award. Beyond that you will find that we have won over thirty other awards over the last ten+ years. I would say that resume defines a pretty solid body of work. It's not an award, but we have never finished with a record under .500% in any event we have attended. That is a streak that I personally am proud of and is a testament to our performance. It really feels bad for me to boast like this, but I think we have earned it.

Thanks,
Mike Carron

[TheFish]

Originally Posted by Jon Jack

Not to take anything from 2753, they had an awesome robot their rookie year, but my vote for best Rookie in 2009 goes to 2775. Here's why:

• The worst they've done in their two regionals is finalist (2009 St. Louis Regional Finalists, 2010 St. Louis Regional Champions)
• They were a 2nd round pick by 1717 on Galileo in 2009
• They made it all the way to the finals on Galileo, losing to the eventual World Champs (111,67, 971)
• They were the only rookie at IRI in 2009 to be an alliance captain.

It's close, but I think that 2775's performance in year 2 gives them the edge...

I'm convinced

I'll update the list I have going after some more people give their input...

[Cartwright]

Originally Posted by TheFish

Updated list:

2010:
2009: 2753 (Team Overdrive - 1x Regional Winner, Championship Highest Rookie Seed & Division winner)
2008: 2337 (EngiNERDs - 1x Regional Winner 2008, Championship Highest Rookie Seed)
2007: 2056 (OP Robotics - 7 of 7 Regional Wins)
2006: 1717 (D'Penguineers - 4x Regional Winner, 2008 & 2009 Championship Division Finalist)
2005: 1625 (Winnovation - 5x Regional Winner, 2006 Championship Division Finalist)
2004: 1251 (TechTigers - 4x Regional Winner, 4x Regional Finalist)
2003: 1114 (Simbotics - 12x Regional Winner, 2006 Championship Division Finalist, 2008 Championship Winner)
2002: 987 (High Rollers - 4x Regional Winner, 2007 Championship Winner, 2008 Championship Division Finalist)
2001: 494 (The Martians - 4x Regional Winner, 2003 Championship Division Winner, 2004 Championship Winner, 2005 Division Finalist)
2000: 365 (Miracle Workerz - 5x Regional Winner, 2001 Championship Winner, 2004 & 2008 Championship Division Finalist)
1999: 254 (Cheesy Poofs - 18x Regional Winner, 2001 & 2005 Einstein Finalist, 2008 Championship Division Finalist)
1998:
1997: 67 (HOT - 13x Regional Winner, 2003 & 2007 Division Finalist, 2004 & 2008 Division Winner, 2005 & 2009 Championship Winner)
1996: 71 (Team Hammond - 11x Regional Winner, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004 Championship Winner, 2007 Championship Finalist)
1995: 177 (Bobcat Robotics - 4x Regional Winner, 2001, 2006, 2008 & 2009 Championship Division Winner, 2007 Championship Winner)
1994:
1992:


Issues: 1992: I'm trying to decide between 148 and 190.
1994: Still haven't gotten any suggestions.
1998: Between 68 & 69
2004: Very few suggestions.

I would love to include Team 100, but they were a rookie in 1995 and I'm going to have to say that 177 takes the cake on that year.

Also please note that I'm doing these rankings off robot-performance only, not their programs and awards (although as you see, the best programs and Chairman Winners also tend to build the best robots... funny how it works out that way).

Another team one might add to the discussion regarding '92 is Team 45. Now they haven't one the championship recently, but they have highly consistent robots and they've won many regionals and divisions in the last ten years.

[TheFish]

Okay so next question... 343 vs. 469

343:
Regional Wins: 7
National Rookie All-Star in 2000
Championship Division Finalist: 2002, 2009
Championship Finalist: 2003
Never finished with a record under .500% in any event.

469:
IRI Champions: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009
Regional Wins: 5
Championship Division Finalist: 2001, 2002,
Championship Winner: 2003
Championship Finalist: 2004

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by TheFish

Okay so next question... 343 vs. 469

343:
Regional Wins: 7
National Rookie All-Star in 2000
Championship Division Finalist: 2002, 2009
Championship Finalist: 2003
Never finished with a record under .500% in any event.

469:
IRI Champions: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009
Regional Wins: 5
Championship Division Finalist: 2001, 2002,
Championship Winner: 2003
Championship Finalist: 2004

Counting the 2 districts this year, 469 has 7 Regional Wins.

I've been trying to stay out of my year (2000) since the beginning of the thread, but 469 is the obvious choice.

I was curious if anyone on their team would speak up but they tend to keep a low profile on CD. This year it is unavoidable, but think it: have you seen anyone on their team talking about their bot? Sure everyone else is but not them.

[XaulZan11]

I'm not sure how much (if any) weight IRI should have. Some teams do take it very seriously, but others use it more as an event to train new drivers and just have fun. At regionals and at the Championship, everyone is playing to win.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

What about 1992? I'd like to propose 190, 45, or 195.

Don't forget Wildstang who started in '92. Took four years off and started over.
They have a resume that is hard to beat.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by TheFish

Okay so next question... 343 vs. 469

343:
Regional Wins: 7
National Rookie All-Star in 2000
Championship Division Finalist: 2002, 2009
Championship Finalist: 2003
Never finished with a record under .500% in any event.

469:
IRI Champions: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009
Regional Wins: 5
Championship Division Finalist: 2001, 2002,
Championship Winner: 2003
Championship Finalist: 2004

469 no doubt. Their history is astounding.

[Siri]

I'd agree that 469, 341, 343, and 365 are all excellent teams with consistently impressive robots. That said, I think the stats back me up in saying that 469 has perennially the best preforming robot. However, I wouldn't find it too hard to say 365 has historically the best preforming team (as far as non-performance/engineering awards like Chairman's, Spirit, etc).

469:
*Championship Winner x1
*Championship Finalist x1
*Division Winner x2
*Division Finalist x2
*Regional/District Winner x7
*Regional Finalist x3
*Regional Engineering Award x12
Regional Sportsmanship Award x2
Regional Woodie Flowers x2

341:
*Championship Engineering Inspiration x1
*Division Winner x1
Championship Entrepreneurship x2
Championship Judge's Award x1
Championship Sportsmanship x1
Regional Chairman's x5
*Regional Winner x5
Regional Engineering Inspiration x3
*Regional Engineering Award x1
Regional Woodie Flowers x2
Regional Judge's Award x2
Regional Entrepreneurship x2
Regional Spirit x3
Regional Sportsmanship x1
Regional Website x4

343
*Championship Finalist x1
*Division Winner x1
*Division Finalist x2
Championship Engineering Inspiration x1
Championship Entrepreneurship x1
*Regional Winner x7
*Regional Chairman's x2
*Regional Finalist x2
*Regional Engineering Award x12
Regional Engineering Inspiration x1
Regional Autodesk x2
Regional Entrepreneurship x3
Regional Judge's Award x1

365:
*Championship Winner x1
Championship Chairman's x1 (plus 1 Honorable Mention #1)
*Championship Engineering Award x1
*Division Champion x1
*Division Finalist x2
Championship Engineering Inspiration x1
Championship Imagery Award x2
*Regional Winner x5
Regional Chairman's x4
*Regional Finalist x3
*Regional Engineering Award x5
Regional GP x3
Regional Woodie Flowers x3
Regional Entrepreneurship x2
Regional Judge's Award x1
Regional Sportsmanship x2
Regional Spirit x2
Regional Imagery Award x5
Regional Website x4

Performance/Engineering Awards Only
Championship Wins:
469 x1
365 x1
Championship Finals:
469 x1
341 x0
343 x1
365 x0
Championship Engineering:
469 x0
341 x0
343 x0
365 x1
Division Wins:
469 x2
341 x1
343 x1
365 x1
Division Finals:
469 x2
341 x0
343 x2
365 x2
Regional Wins:
469 x7
341 x5
343 x7
365 x5
Regional Finals:
469 x3
341 x0
343 x2
365 x4
Regional Engineering:
469 x12
341 x1
343 x12
365 x5

Championship Chairman's:
469 x0
341 x0
343 x0
365 x1
Regional Chairman's:
469 x0
341 x5
343 x2
365 x4
Accurate to the best of my ability, sans 2000 for all teams.

Why yes, building this list did make me feel like a complete amateur, why do you ask?

[XaulZan11]

I thought we were only talking about robot preformance.

I know this is probably unattainable, but I think 'average alliance selection' would be a good measure. Is the team consistently being on the top 3 teams picked or are they winning events as the 3rd robot?

[Huskie65]

I think this is close but two titles is not easy...


1999: 254 (Cheesy Poofs - 18x Regional Winner, 2001 & 2005 Einstein Finalist, 2008 Championship Division Finalist)
1999: 217 (Thunder Chickens - ? regional Winner (3 already this year and 3 last year) 5x Championship Division wins Championship Winner 2006 & 2008

[meaubry]

1998 Team 47 - Won 3 Regionals of Ladder Logic (the last year of non-alliance competitions)

[MCarron]

OK, I started thinking about this thread last night and realized that trying to pick the "best" of anything for any year is down right impossible. It's like trying to say, who was the best scientist; Einstein, Galileo, Curie, etc. Maybe we should change this thread just a bit and call it the top five or top ten robots based on their rookie year. Maybe that would be easier.

I know that when I look at teams #341, #365, and #469 for 2000, I admire all of them and aspire to be just like them. I'm hoping that out there somebody thinks of #343 in that regard as well. I would hate to see this thread start to create hard feelings amongst teams. Personally I would love to have any of the teams mentioned above in my corner of the ring any day!!

How about the top five for 2000 being 469, 365, 341, 343, and xxxx. What about all the other years? This thread would be a great thread to show the entire FIRST organization it's role models by year if that makes any sense.

At any rate happy botting to all and best of luck for the rest of the year.

Cheers,
Mike Carron

[Starke]

Without a doubt, HOT (#67) was the best in 2004.

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by Starke340

Without a doubt, HOT (#67) was the best in 2004.

They may have been the best in 2004, but they were started in 1997. This thread is about the teams with the most competition success based on their year of inception.