Best defensive robots throughout FIRST

Does anybody know of the best defensive robots throughout all of FIRST? Like, not just pinning other robots, but actually preventing them from scoring, or taking away points if legal.

Thanks!

EDIT: Links would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Akash Rastogi]

The best defensive bot was also the best offensive bot IMO, team 71, the BEAST from 2002.

So awesome.

[BrendanB]

179 Children of the Swamp from 2007 deserves a shout out with their amazing defense that held some very potent robots to little to no tubes.

190 Gompei and the Herd from WPI in 2004 was extremely well at both blocking other robots from hanging but stealing the opponents doubler ball and then placing it on their own goal. Genius!

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

Team Crush 1011 was an amazing defender at Arizona this year. It got them all the way to the top 10 in the rankings and made them an alliance captain.

[Chris_Elston]

Rosie Robotics 839 from 2010. Toughest Defense we've seen. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/user/TeamThru.../3/Azqfuw4GRpI

http://www.youtube.com/user/TeamThru.../5/80VPnWXZ4Og

[jwfoss]

I'll second the FRC839 at the CT regional in 2010, watching the constantly hound and eventually place 1501 in a goal was quite a sight to see.

As well as FRC190 2004, with the ability to climb up the field, hang in auto, block the entire bar and then decap the bonus ball was nothing short of impressive.

FRC177 2006, I drove with an against them quite a few times that year, there ability to get in the way (and flip people legally) was smart, tough, driving. If I remember correctly there's a "Greatest Hits" video out there somewhere. (Bobcats are known for their East Coast defense, though this years robot was a scoring machine)

And who can forget Truck Town Thunder, "No one pushes Truck Town"

Notable Mention: FRC703 in 2007 solid defense with even better ramps.

[Chris Hibner]

288 RoboDawgs in 2000 was a great defensive machine. They had an appendage that looked like a chainsaw that they would insert into the goal between the pipes, turn it on, and drive the length of the goal removing every ball in the goal.

[Chris Hibner]

I forgot my favorite of all time. It was the 1997 machine from current team 148. They held their tubes in scoring position while they spun the goal around. Usually they spun the goal enough to keep their robot between the goal and any robot attempting to score, but if they needed to they could just spin it really fact so no one could score.

[thefro526]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 68's 2003 robot (before it was deemed illegal).

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/14988

[Peter Matteson]

IIRC the Rhode Warriors 1997 robot had a legal robot flipping mechanism.

This was the time when games were rougher and no one had bumpers and high speed collisions were legal and expected.

[Chris is me]

This year, 973 stood out pretty clearly on Einstein.

The best 2010 defenders were third zone bots that could actually control the game from the back. 3138 and 294 did it like few others, even the elite teams, could.

2009 defense was less about the robot and much more about the driver, but 247 was very good.

[Kevin_Morris]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

I forgot my favorite of all time. It was the 1997 machine from current team 148. They held their tubes in scoring position while they spun the goal around. Usually they spun the goal enough to keep their robot between the goal and any robot attempting to score, but if they needed to they could just spin it really fact so no one could score.

If you'd like to see the robot from that year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDUl0pkjkjc

Fast forward to 18:30 to see it in action, we were team 35 back then.

EDIT: Fast forward to 1:20:30 to actually see us playing HOT

The point of the design was to keep other robots from scoring by spinning the goal. It worked fairly well. I have a better video of it somewhere with "God Bless Texas" playing in the background ... I'll keep looking for it.

As for that video itself, it seems to be the property of someone on HOT. It's long but pretty entertaining.

As for this year... hands down my vote goes to 16 for reasons already explained in earlier posts. They were incredible.

[Walter Deitzler]

Originally Posted by Kevin_Morris

If you'd like to see the robot from that year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDUl0pkjkjc

Fast forward to 18:30 to see it in action, we were team 35 back then.

The point of the design was to keep other robots from scoring by spinning the goal. It worked fairly well. I have a better video of it somewhere with "God Bless Texas" playing in the background ... I'll keep looking for it.

As for that video itself, it seems to be the property of someone on HOT. It's long but pretty entertaining.

As for this year... hands down my vote goes to 16 for reasons already explained in earlier posts. They were incredible.

Just curious (sorry to derail the thread) but why did the numbers change?

[Kevin_Morris]

Originally Posted by LedLover96

Just curious (sorry to derail the thread) but why did the numbers change?

New numbers were assigned every year based on where the team sponsor's name fell alphabetically relative to the rest of the teams in FIRST. I believe E-Systems was our main sponsor then and there still wasn't a ton of teams in FIRST at the time, thus the low number.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it was the following year that they locked the numbers that were assigned to teams, again based on sponsor name.

I would find it hard to believe if there wasn't a thread you could find via search with more information about this topic.


On topic:
Another team we had the pleasure of competing with on Galileo was team 870. For raw, uncompromising, unapologetic defense, it didn't get much better than them in our division. Too bad they were never picked for elims, they typically put on quite a show.

[Steven Donow]

1370 were one of the best solely defensive bots in the early season and in MAR. I was amazed that they were such a late pick at Rutgers. They showed that it is possible to play great defense with mecanum wheels.