This year’s 1114 bot was RIDICULOUS. I can’t imagine anything more creative or dominating. Their drivers knew how to control it as well.
This is my rookie year, so I’m somewhat easily impressed 
my tops would definitely be:
148 - their end effector was simply incredible. Add in a killer drive base and drivers that know how to work it well, you’ve got (in my opinion)the best robot of 07.
1625 - the title of the thread is “robots that inspired you.” This was not only the first bot I saw with a swerve drive (very cool to someone who doesn’t know what’s going on), but their lifter system was awesome. I believe they were the first team at St. Louis to lift two @ 12", and their method of doing so was awesome.
2056 - their KISS system showed everybody that even the most baseline robot, paired with a good auton and drive team, can be verrryy competitive.
233 - I LOVE that arm/grabber setup. Nothing else to be said.
703 - 14 wheels!!! I’ll never forget being pushed halfway around the rack by them in Detroit, haha.
Edit: this is my 148th post
Team 111 every year.
And since you never specified FIRST robotics…
Biohazard, Alos, and every creation from Team Wyachi.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. SPAM 2004 is the robot that got me hooked.
I’ve got to say that a few teams out there stood out not only with the talent and skill of their robot and drivers but with the team themselves, In both the Los Angles and the San Diego regionals Team 968 was all around amazing, I was impressed with their team structure and the friendliness of some of their team members alongside their impressive performances on the field.
I’ll have to second that… Team whyachi are good people…
Wildstang in 2006. It was my rookie year and we got selected by them for the finals. I was (and still am) amazed at how fast and accurately the turret aimed and how rapidly the balls flew into the goal. Seeing that robot inspired my and my team to strive to build a great robot every year.
If we were talking about the drive team, I would have to say team 45 for their awesome ability to climb on our wings, even with two robot already on their. See what I’m talking about here.
As for design, I just love to see what everyone has made, and it all inpresses me equally.
25, 40, and 173 were very inspirational to me… they both had very robust designs. they were the kind of robots you could repeatedly crash into the rack with and they wouldn’t break.
Our robot, although it performed very well, was in fact very flimsy and a simple push in the wrong area would have put us out of competition. luckily, the only times that happened were at our scrimmage and the final match of the UTC regional.
in any case though, 25’s robot was untippable and transferred its momentum very well when hit. 40 had a strong arm, a very well done autonomous, and could easily be driven around with as much recklessness as humanly possible. 173… that was one beast of an arm, and it was also extremely fast. you could RAM that arm at full speed and nothing would happen to it. It is mechanical aspects like that which i am planning to use as models in future design proposals for robots to come.
Team 177’s robot(s) made an impression on me. Last year it was because of how well their bot worked. When we partnered with them at the UTC regional, they had engineered a robot with amazing offense. We ended up playing defense to let them score. This year, their robot left me in awe when we played against them- we had practiced resisting against defense, but in the finals on Newton they pushed us aside as if we weren’t even there. Their drivetrain is incredible, and their ability to partner this with other excellent attributes in their robots each year has stood out in my mind.
Here are seven robots that I hold very near to my heart and have truly inspired me.
233 2005-Every time one of these threads comes up, I bring up this robot. This was the first robot that ever made me stop and say “Wow.” For those who didn’t see it that year, imagine their robot this year only it was better. To this day I think they were the best robot on Archimedes in 2005 (It was basically this year’s Curie it had 27, 71, 179, 980, 1114 and three other robots we will get to later).
191 2005-My first competition was the inaugural 2005 Finger Lakes Regional, and one of the teams I scouted was team 191. The X-Cats put out the coolest designed robot there and finished with the second seed where they picked us. After the most exciting finish in the history of FIRST (Leaning center stack, I nearly died waiting to see how it was scored) our alliance won. They again picked us on Archimedes and we made it to the finals. This robot was probably the reason I stayed in FIRST.
217/245 2005-If 191 had the robot that helped make my first year great, then these two built the robots that made my first year a sad time. For those that don’t know 245 built the most underrated robot of all time and 217 built the robot that has most influenced every team this year. These two won both Detroit (Knocking us and 1213 out) and Archimedes (knocking out us and 191). These two made me want to build better and better robots so that they wouldn’t destroy us.
85 2005-If PINK built my favorite robot of all time, then 85 built my second favorite. It was the most interesting design I have ever seen. Their gripper was like a vending machine that rotates and dispenses candy bars. Plus it flipped around and they had another, it was insane.
469 2007-Their 2006 robot was their best, but this was by far their coolest and most innovative. Look at GLR and then Detroit. They completely redesigned their gripper in two weeks. They really pushed the bar of what can be done in six weeks and built a robot that I will never forget.
1114 2007-There have been many robots that are “the best ever” but this robot was something more. It pushed the game into ways no one else went. Everything down to the flag holder was intricately designed and fabricated. Top it off, they played some of the most flawless matches I have ever seen and dominated the game. They have become the 01-02 Beatty of the Serpentine draft era.
79 all the way baby!
WHAT TIME IS IT?
CRUNCH TIME!!!
This is a great thread. Here is my list of most inspiring robots, and how they inspired me:
1997 Wildstang - no robot ever went higher. They demonstrated that if you wanted to win over adversity, prehaps you had to be a little extreme.
1998 Juggernauts (1) - Small, simple, efficient. Give your operators something simple and easy to drive, and the results can be amazing - even against much more complicated machinces.
1999 Team Hammond (71) - I think this was my favorite of all of their robots. The design was just a little bit out of the box, and incredibly effective. They could score in every imaginable way. This robot caused me to start to explore all options of a game while thinking of a robot’s capabilities.
2000 Chief Delphi (47) - in my opinion, the best FIRST robot of all time. This robot looked like an NBA all star playing in a high school basketball game. I guess this robot just inspired awe more than anything else.
Without a doubt there isn’t a robot that inspires me much at all. I’m more of a concepts kind of guy. That said, what inspires me the most is mecanum and holonomic drive, particularly teams (like 357) who go the extra lengths to manufacture everything themselves in an effort to show students what it takes to create a concept from scratch.
Ever model the continuous wheel equation from IEEE papers in Matlab? Yea, pretty pictures indeed, and if you take the concept further with a 3rd dimension to the model (undisclosed independant variable atm ;)) I do believe what I’m seeing is a singularity point signifying the a “best” solution – but I need clarification from an old professor first. Even after college, you can still get inspired by these little robots 
So to all teams that strive to make their robots agile enough to side-step opponents and do everything the game entails – you are the ones who truly inspire me. I mean, the thing drives freakin sideways.
Team 2153’s robot was inspiring. It was so simple, yet the drivers were really good with it. I couldn’t help but laugh madly in the stands watching that machine…
Just curious but do you happen to know how many teams went with a similar design to 217’s 2005 robot? the only ones that i can really think of off the top of my head are:
1902
217
148
(I know there are a lot more but i don’t recall any of the successful teams at nationals, besides 1902, having a similar design to 217’s 2005 robot)
Just curious i don’t mean to take any respect away from the T-Chickens, but i was just curious
Don’t forget that it’s your design as well…
Also, I saw quite a few four bars in atlanta… don’t quite remember all the team numbers.
It was one of the more common arm designs this imo (besides a single jointed arm… but thats not an inspired design mos t of the time (unless you’re 330)).
Team 60 (2002)-Spinning goals…it’s that kind of out of the box thinking that makes me strive to be a better engineer.
Team 254 (any year)-Deadly efficiency is their trade. It’s easy to make a complex robot. It’s hard to make a complex robot work. It’s hardest still to make a robot so simple, elegant and robust that it wins at LEAST one regional a year.
Team 190 (2007)-I realize this is a robot I helped create. I am mentioning it because I am still continually inspired by it, every time I walk by (which is most days during the school year). It’s what makes me understand why I enjoy engineering so much, and why I enjoy FIRST so much.
speaking of that… has any other team one at least a regional a year every yea? (not an individual regional, any regional)
This is my first year in FRC so the robots I’ve seen are pretty limited to this year. But one robot that I like quite a lot was the robot 1501. It was so skillful in doing what it did…it was just really great.