Has there ever been a robot that inspired you? Has there ever been a robot that makes you say “I wish our ‘bot was like that”. If so which robot was it and why?
Nearly every robot I’ve ever had the pleasure of looking at closely has had something that makes me pause in admiration, whether it’s something I wish my team had thought of, something we did think of but didn’t manage to bring to reality, or something we didn’t even attempt. When you look at another team’s robot, you’re seeing the combined product of six weeks of brainpower from a group of both current and future engineers; I’d be surprised if you didn’t find something to admire or look up to.
To answer the basic question, though…our robot was a hybrid, and we were quite happy with how well our designs worked out. After going through the process of trying to cram so much into one robot in one build season, every other hybrid made me pause and take a close look. The really effective ones impressed me, because I understand the amount of thought that must go into it to pull that off. 71 is the hybrid from this year that comes to mind most easily, after watching them on the Championship webcast.
probably team 968’s bot and their team because there so organized and neat and they are very creative with their ideas.
Team 60 - Bionic Bulldogs, that thing was crazy fast, omg, that was just awesome seeing it on the Curie Field except in the second match my team had against them(from the driver’s point of view), they were missing a team for their alliance and the other team they were with broke down really early and, that hurt(us, because 60 won the match single handedly). We were quite impressed though. Finally my team believes me we need to upgrade the drive train.
I don’t know if it was the bot of the drive team or a healthy mix of both but 330s bot still inspired me. It was so effective and though I wouldn’t call it simple (because I don’t think any FRC bot should ever be called “simple” :rolleyes:) it wasn’t overly complex and was simply a beautifully effective bot. The arm was also very well built and looked like it could take some punishment.
71 I say this because i’m pretty sure every year after the game is revealed everyone thinks “WHAT WOULD BEATTY DO??”
just look at the quality of robots that they have had (and driving abilities)
Also some other teams that come to mind quickly are:
25, 45, 67, 121, 173, 217, 233, 254
254and968 these are in my opinion the most elegantly enginnered first robots in existence and then beast of course
^^ 1625’s robot from 2005… they were rookies with an amazing robot and stopped me from getting that elusive gold medal. However, there were a lot of robots from 2005 that I was impressed by.
71 and 111 inspire and impress me year in and year out.
100’s '07 'bot, “Tubeasaurus Rex”. Runs well, performs well, plays the game well, and it’s well built. On top of that, I love how you can remove the panels to work on the 'bot’s systems.
Well, I was impressed by everything at the 2005 IRI, because it was the first time I had ever seen FIRST robots in action. I was dumbfounded. And I loved it. The first robot to catch my attention there, would have to have been Pink’s. It was fast and effective.
Now that I’m actually aware of what a build season is like, I can honestly say, every robot fascinates me to some degree. I can’t explain it. I want to know how each team got their robot to work, and what made them come up with certain ideas. Everything is intriguing, and simply being a part of it inspires me. 
This year, I was impressed with unique designs that worked…365, 126, 910, and of course 330 and 71. I also have to say I was inspired by all of the hybrids, especially the ones that could do both really well, because I could never have figured out how to accomplish ramping or both with that amount of speed and accuracy. 1501 was a strong lift, and I liked that one a lot. It was easy to get on and a fast lift.
I am greatly inspired by autonomous modes that work as well. I did programming when I was in VEX in 2006, and it was the hardest thing to try and figure out. (And that was on a lot smaller and easier scale.) I look up to all of the programmers out there, who are masters of their skills.
Really though, when looking at a robot, a six-week masterpiece of countless hours of work and sleepless nights, glowing with passion and dedication; who couldn’t be inspired?
Which one? The one you faced in Newton or the one you were with in Curie?:rolleyes:
(Strange but true: In 2005, teams 67 and 330 faced team 910 in the Newton finals. In 2007, Curie finals, same three teams, but it’s 910 and 330 versus 67… To make matters even wierder, 330’s 2007 robot borrows very heavily from their 2005 robot.)
And to answer the original question…Any robot that beats us convincingly or is just plain WOW! (968 '06 comes to mind immediately, as does 60 '02.)
254
I wasn’t around for 2005 so unfortunately I never saw your bot from that year. But this year I absolutely loved it, especially the arm. To me the arm looked like you could have wailed on it with a sledgehammer and maybe you would have scratched it.
I was really inspired by 2165’s robot this year. It was a rookie robot that looked and performed like a veteran.
do you mean 2156? patriotics?
EDIT: early morning mistake… patriotics is 2056…
2165 was a finalist at the Kansas City regional, and won the regional RAS award. 2156 won RAS & RI at Sacramento. 2056 is Patriotics and won 2 regionals, 2 highest rookie seeds, and a regional RAS.
I’ll start with robots that inspired me when I was new to FIRST–
47 in 2000-Simply amazing machine. Extremely well engineered.
71 in 2001-Did everything, did it perfectly, and did it quick. Total domination isn’t a strong enough descriptor. I wanted to make a robot like that.
60 in 2002-This is still one of my top two or three favorite robots ever. This
robot was so well engineered. It was incredibly simple, clean, and sleek and worked incredibly well.
71 in 2002-As they often have, Beatty came up with a strategy and robot that was as close to unbeatable as humanly possible. Their use of file cards and the walking feet was revolutionary and made them impossible to move once deployed.
Robots that have inspired me since–
111 in 2003- Stang PS, 'nuff said. Watching their robot come out, encounter an obstacle, swerve around it, and then make their way up to the top of the ramp (faster than 90% or more of all the other teams) was amazing. Being able to change autonomous modes simply by clicking anywhere on the field and adding waypoints, and integrating all the sensors and programming to do so is an amazing feat. Combine that with the fact that this robot was perfectly engineered to dominate the competition with it’s swerve drive and two wings, and you get one incredible robot.
60/254 in 2004- In and prior to 2004, 60 and 254 were the two premier west coast teams. For them to get together and collaborate on the design of their robots was amazing in and of itself, and has now become commonplace. Beyond that, the robot they designed was one of the best of all time. The only thing that stopped these two teams all year was mechanical failure of their winch cable, and bad luck. These two robots were clearly head and shoulders over all others in 2004, and unless they made a mistake, your chances of winning against them were not very good.
1114 and company in 2006- Watching their robot dominate everyone, and joining the company of the only team to have ever one three regional events in one year was inspiring to me. Like all these other robots, it was very well engineered. It’s drivetrain allowed it to actively resist being pushed to keep on target, and the shooter allowed it to curve it’s shots, giving it greater flexibility.
233 any year. Particularly 2005-2007. The first time I see a new Pink bot, my jaw always drops. They are consistently the best engineered, sleekest, most beautifully machined robot out there. Every single component has clearly been thought out and CAD’ed from the major systems, all the way down to their battery mount (who noticed their super sweet CNC machined battery retention system this year? :p). That kind of attention to detail is simply amazing. You could spend an entire day staring at their robot, and there’s no way you would find anything that looked out of place. I’m continually in awe of their craftsmanship.
All these robots, and many others that make you go “wow” have inspired me in many ways. Look at how many aspects of these robots (and many other greats that I’ve not listed) have been incorporated into current robots by many a team, and I think it’s clear they’ve inspired many.
I don’t think any “ROBOT” has inspired me. I think it has been teams that have built beautiful successful bots that have inspired me. Specifically a few teams are at the top of my list, with some of the most helpuful people and some of the most inspirational ways thinking. They would be Wildstang (111), RoboWranglers (148), and The Poofs (254) and Pink (233).
Peace.
Not a problem on the 2005 robot:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/21476
2007, for reference (actually our practice robot, but very similar concept and the resemblance is clearer):
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27675
A sledgehammer might have broken the fiberglass, but not the metal inside. If any robot had broken both the fiberglass and the steel/aluminum inside, they would probably have lost the match on a red card. Even on Curie. (Definitely on Einstein. And, if it was in finals, who cares about the timeout? Give us two minutes max and the spare is on.)
Gunna go for a more intelligent robot next year…