Rookies of the Year

[Chris]

I just thought it would be nice if some of the veterans voted for who you thought was the best rookie team this year.
So who were the best rookies in your opinion?
Who do you expect great things from in the future?

My vote goes to Team 839 for having a great robot this year and being an excellent team to work with at UTC and Battlecry

Honorable mention Goes to
871
930
942

What do you think?

[ChrisH]

980 for being one of the very few rookie teams that had the guts to go for balls, and doing it well.

851 for placing much lower at LA than their robot deserved ( I think they were last) and still having a good time. At least they always ran, which was more than you could say for several robots that seeded higher.

[Joe Ross]

810, for being one of the strongest (and fastest) robots, period (won the technoticks pull for their division)

980, for being one of the best ball robots, period.

And the team members from both teams are very cool.

1 rookie team from each coast. Unfortuntely I saw many more good teams, but those were my favorite.

[Ian W.]

i'd say 810 too, but i guess i'm not really in a position to say much about the best rookie team...

[rlowerr_1]

930 hands down

[Andy A.]

Team 885 from Central Vermont!

Their bot can grab two goals, uses a friction pad brake, and get this: an extender that is acutally legal! I was amazed that a rookie team managed what many vet's considered to difficult to be worth while. As if that wasn't enough, they have a great green color scheme with cow pants to boot.

Not only did they have a hell of a time getting started this year, they put out a fantastic robot. I talked to a few of their members, and being on a well established team with some great sponsers it made me realize how hard they had to work just to get the entry money let alone make such a competitive machine. 95 was a quasi mentor to them, and I'll tell you, this team is going to be a big name in the not to distant future. Keep your eyes on them, we have yet another great new england team in our midst.

-Andy A.

[Ashley Weed]

I must agree... 885 made a great impression this year. They will be a force to be known in the future. They deffinately put up a good fight at MidAtlantics this year.

[Chris]

any one have a picture of 980? i never saw their bot..

[DougHogg]

Originally posted by Chris
any one have a picture of 980? i never saw their bot..

Chris, thanks for your interest in our robot and for starting this thread. I am sure all the rookie teams appreciate the special attention. The FIRST Competition 2002 is definitely the toughest thing our students have ever done (and they have done some tough things before, such as hike the whole John Muir trail in one summer). We have robot pictures and quicktime movies (watch out - some files are very large) at
http://home.pacbell.net/pinewood/Our_Robot.html

Also thank you ChrisH and Joe Ross for your votes. This is an honor that everyone on our team will greatly appreciate. It was also an honor (and a lot of fun - even the match we almost lost) to be picked as partners by the Beach 'Bots for the S. California Summer Classic "TeemmeeT".

Thank you Chatsworth High School and Granada Hills High School for sponsoring and hosting "TeemmeeT". It was awesome! The additional contests (truck pull, obstacle course, tug of war, ball pickup) plus the increase of the weight limit (so we could add some of the things people had worked hard on but didn't make the weight cut), and the fact that all of the teams were in the elimination round, made this event more fun per minute for me than any other FIRST competition this year. You guys are heros.

[Andy Baker]

There were many great rookies this year. Here are just a few of them:

I agree that 980 had an awesome team and robot. I especially liked them, since their robot was very similar to ours. They could gobble up balls much quicker than we could, though!

Also, 868 had a good rookie year. These guys were great to work with and we enjoyed mentoring them through their first year. Expect good things from the Delphi-Carmel HS "Hound Tech" team.

Then, there are those seasoned FIRST vets on the rookie team of 857. Anthony, Justin, Adam and the rest of the Superior Roboworks crew had an AWESOME robot with the neatest drive train of all robots in 2002. It was a darn shame that these guys had to lose their team 221 qualification points from 2001 and couldn't make it to the Championships this year. If you never got to see the "Kiwi" drive system, be cure to go to their website to check it out.

Another team that got alot of attention this year was 810... Christina, Michael and the crew from Smithtown had an awesome year and will be a team to watch in the years to come.

Team ASCII, 892 from Ohio had a good robot and team this year also. They were "Rookie All-Stars" at the Buckeye Regional and had a very neat and effective circular robot.

Probably one of the most underrated rookies this year was 902. These guys and gals from Michigan had a robot that could do it all, and it was a masterpiece of LEXAN craftmanship.

Another team to watch will be 968. This team, led by Travis Covington (formerly of 115) and Scott McElroy had a great-looking robot which was quick, powerful and highly functional. They did well at the LA Regional while also being one of the highest rookie seeds at the Championships. I especially liked their drive system .

Andy B.

[geo]

Any suggestions for team 865 warp7?- a Canadian rookie team

[Tom Schindler]

My vote is for 871 - hands down... powerful, simple goal grabbers... very nice drive system... great job 871!

[Clark Gilbert]

One of my picks for best rookie is team 910; have you guys seen this bot? wow

Not only did it look good, it could perform it's job well. I also like the 902 robot.

[ColleenShaver]

852 was a great rookie team..

They were only in Virginia so only those there may have played with or have seen them. They were a quality robot with a quality team behind them. They were great fun to work with and an excellent first round choice for us.

We hope they can make it to some more competitions next year!

[WernerNYK]

Hmmm, 871?

*casts his vote as a member of veteran team 190*