Best Robot of 2010

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by dodar

I wouldnt say 233 as a best robot contender for the year. 254 yes. 233 no. Now, From thinking of teams that also made it to Einstein, I would mention that rookie team that made it. I believe they were The Comets, but idr the team ####

They didn't perform great at Florida, but certainly improved for LA, and improved leaps and bounds for champs.

You don't get picked by the #1 seed (above team 33) in a stacked division by a team with great scouting without being one of the best.

[dodar]

Even still, if you are gonna be considered the best robot of the YEAR, you have to have performed at that level through the entire year. For instance: 67, 25, 254, 469, 33, 1114, 2056, 1625, each did ungodly amazing at each and every event they attended.

[Chris is me]

It's kind of hard to argue about a great being "worse" or imply they're even "bad" but watching video and seeing matches with 233 and 254 compared to the others, it's clear that 254 is one of the most dominant robots in FRC this year, and 233 was getting there at Championships, but in my mind was just below that level. Obviously they're a fantastic team I wouldn't hesitate to join an alliance with, though.

It's hard for this kind of thing not to just end up being "a list of every good robot" so I kept my list to like 6 or 7 teams.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

To take your witticism seriously for a minute, I would say not.

Let's take the main contenders for the prize: 1114, 469, 67, 33, 1718, 1519, 294, and 1625 in my opinion as outlined below. Michigan is done with offseasons basically right now, so you can cut those teams out which leaves 294, 1519, and 1625. 294's traditional offseason participation is over, and 1114 and 1625 don't have offseasons in their region. That leaves 1519, whom might go to Bash at the Beach or one of the other late NE offseasons, but while they're great, I doubt they will suddenly grow above and beyond the other "contenders" here.

1114 has an off season well in range of them (Rah Cha Cha Ruckus) but ever since their terrific 2005 robot unleashed a mushroom cloud of agony at the last Canada's Wonderland event they probably aren't too enthused about overtaxing their very much used robot. Plus it didn't help that they haven't found a new home for their off season since Canada's Wonderland got bought out and booted the event out of their park (a big mistake on their behalf).

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by Jack Jones

Define best!?

The best robot, a mixture between design, aesthetics, and performance(not driver performance)

[EricH]

469, hands down, for both design and performance. Aesthetics are a secondary concern, but 469 still looked pretty good (especially when you were on their alliance!).

[dodar]

Originally Posted by EricH

469, hands down, for both design and performance. Aesthetics are a secondary concern, but 469 still looked pretty good (especially when you were on their alliance!).

Idk, 67 was the perfect robot for this game and it had awesome flames on the drivetrain

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by dodar

Idk, 67 was the perfect robot for this game and it had awesome flames on the drivetrain

With all due respect to probably the best regular robot in the game, how can they score faster and control the game more effectively than 469?

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

To take your witticism seriously for a minute, I would say not.

Let's take the main contenders for the prize: 1114, 469, 67, 33, 1718, 1519, 294, and 1625 in my opinion as outlined below. Michigan is done with offseasons basically right now, so you can cut those teams out which leaves 294, 1519, and 1625. 294's traditional offseason participation is over, and 1114 and 1625 don't have offseasons in their region. That leaves 1519, whom might go to Bash at the Beach or one of the other late NE offseasons, but while they're great, I doubt they will suddenly grow above and beyond the other "contenders" here.

Excuse me Chris, but we have been working very hard since IRI to work on our robot and learn from mistakes. We now have a pincher, and a hanger/redirector like the beast assembly on top of team 2337 so I would highly watch out for us at River Rage! Oh wait, all that was in my dreams! Not much has happened in our shop since IRI.

I wouldn't say that our robot was one of the best even though that is an honor to be in the same sentence as those robots listed! I would vote for team 67. They were very good on the field in each zone and their hanger took at least 2 seconds of game play to hang. 1114, 33, 254, and 469 come close behind.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

With all due respect to probably the best regular robot in the game, how can they score faster and control the game more effectively than 469?

If I recall, they did beat them in the finals, but not that two wins means that robot A is better than robot B. 469 relied highly upon the skill of their partners with them scoring 2 balls in auto before going into the tower; meanwhile, 67 spends their time clearing the mid zone and cleaning up the near zone.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

If I recall, they did beat them in the finals, but not that two wins means that robot A is better than robot B. 469 relied highly upon the skill of their partners with them scoring 2 balls in auto before going into the tower; meanwhile, 67 spends their time clearing the mid zone and cleaning up the near zone.

The way 469 lost was in a way where everything had to go wrong, and everything did for them, rather than teammate failure. This combined with the "ultimate alliance" of the best backbot in FRC with one of the best overall robots in FRC (and hideously underrated 177) ended up being kind of a "perfect storm" for 469's alliance. The field change threw their robot way off.

[rogerlsmith]

Originally Posted by dodar

I wouldnt say 233 as a best robot contender for the year. 254 yes. 233 no. Now, From thinking of teams that also made it to Einstein, I would mention that rookie team that made it. I believe they were The Comets, but idr the team ####

3357

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

The way 469 lost was in a way where everything had to go wrong, and everything did for them, rather than teammate failure. This combined with the "ultimate alliance" of the best backbot in FRC with one of the best overall robots in FRC (and hideously underrated 177) ended up being kind of a "perfect storm" for 469's alliance. The field change threw their robot way off.

Funny, how many people called 1114 + 469 the ultimate alliance? I am included in that. But if your robot scoring is dependent on the field set-up then there are much better robots out there. And 469 was still able to score as I recall.

[Basel A]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Funny, how many people called 1114 + 469 the ultimate alliance? I am included in that. But if your robot scoring is dependent on the field set-up then there are much better robots out there. And 469 was still able to score as I recall.

If you go back and watch the videos, many of the shots were a little bit off, whereas their setup was optimal for the Curie field.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Any robot that inspired more than a single student to pursue their passion was the best robot.

No it isn't. You can't have 1200 robots that are all the best. "Best" implies singular. Your definition of "best" can vary, but I don't see any reasonable interpretation of best involving 1000+ in quantity.

I always feel these answers are a GP cop out (sorry for picking on you in particular). The OP would seem to not mean the most happy fuzzy warm feel good robot in FIRST, but the best robot competitively. It's like if you asked someone who the best NFL player is and they said "player xyz because he gives the most money to charity and is a really nice guy".

That said, complete tossup of 469/1114 for me. 469 changed the way the game was played but on their own they were not quite as effective. One on on 1114 is my pick.

Originally Posted by Jon Jack

I agree that 254 should certainly be in the conversation for best robot of the year.

However, I don't think 233 fits in the category. 233 had a rough start to the season (missed elims in Florida and semis in LA). As usual, 233 were masters of continuous improvement and were much better at championships than they were in Florida or LA.

So basically they were like a wild card team making it to the Super Bowl to play the 18-0 Patriots. The results at the final buzzer are all that matters-nobody looks back in history to see what the champion's regular season record was.

Obviously 233 didn't win championships so it's not a perfect analogy and I certainly wouldn't call myself impartial in the discussion, but I think it's shortsighted to not consider a team because they put their strongest performance forth when it mattered the most, and didn't necessarily excel at the regional level.