Major powerhouse teams this year seem to be:
Beatty (71)
Kingman (60)
Las Guerrillas (469)
When they all throw down at Nationals, who will come out on top? Or do you think they can all be beaten? Are there other robots that can take these out? I assume Beatty will fix any and all problems they had at West Michigan and come back huge at Nationals. Kingman looked incredible at it’s last regional. Las Guerrillas havent played since the first two regional weeks, are they a step behind?
Anybody can be beaten, you just have to do it right.
there are other robots out there.
To bad some of the great robots will not be at the nationals
I have post this in other treads so I will not go on with it here.
Just look at team 157 for ball handlers Ave. score of 114 in the UTC regional. This is a team to be looking for. But they will not be at the nationals. SO you don’t have the chance to beat them. So if you do win well it would be like winning another regional. because the best will not be there.
Look at team 195, 180, 61 for power robots.
This is what I have seen and I have not seen alot of regionals. But how many robots can pull three goals and two robots at the same time.
There is only a hand full
so for you to say
Major powerhouse teams this year seem to be:
you should do your homework first.
what about our robot that can pick up 20 balls in 6 secs?
Ever since reading the scores from NE I have been dying to see team 157’s robot in action (and frankly wondering if they would would make a good partner for us 
Now I learn they will not be going to the Nationals (I just can’t get used to that Championship Event name – sorry Canada – I am working on it, give me time…)
They have earned the right to go, can’t they be convinced?
Will writing Congress help? How about writing someone with REAL power (Dean, for example ?
The Grand Championship will be less grand without Assabet Valley R.T.H.S. in the hunt. They were kind enough to pick us in the last round of last year’s UTC NE Regional. They were great alliance leaders – I wish we could have gotten that ball on the top of that goal for them… …ah well, always dreaming of the fish that got away…
Joe J.
P.S. Some of the best news of the weekend was that 131 won the Chairman’s Award in NE. Now I get to see my good friends from C.H.A.O.S. at EPCOT – Well done Osram Sylvania & Manchester Central! See you at Disney…
*Originally posted by Jimmy2002 *
**Major powerhouse teams this year seem to be:Beatty (71)
Kingman (60)
Las Guerrillas (469)When they all throw down at Nationals, who will come out on top? Or do you think they can all be beaten? Are there other robots that can take these out? I assume Beatty will fix any and all problems they had at West Michigan and come back huge at Nationals. Kingman looked incredible at it’s last regional. Las Guerrillas havent played since the first two regional weeks, are they a step behind? **
I doubt Las Guerrillas are a step behind. Not only did they win the two regionals they entered, but they’ve continued scouting at other regionals (WMR at the very least). I have no doubt that Las Guerrillas will be a force to be reckoned with and they’re one of the teams I’d rather be fighting with than against.
There are too many good robots and too many regionals to pick just a few dominant robots. This year is not like last year, where Beatty-Hammond was obviously the dominant team to beat.
I can claim to be probably the only person to see 469, 71, and 60 all play in regionals… and I will say that they can all be beaten. Sure, these are awesome machines… but they can each only control 2 goals consistently. Now that the ball collecting robots are getting better, having control of 1 goal can win.
Also, with regard to power… there is more than just a handful of teams with power, so naming only 3-4 teams is just silly. We shall soon see who has power and knows how to use it. Since the upcoming Championships is the final fling of this year, many more teams will be giving it all they have and leaving more robot parts on the floor. So, some teams who have been playing nice up to this point may start being more aggressive.
Andy B.
It seemed like the aggresive side of this game is getting worse. In Cleveland everyone played nice, right up until the last few matches of the day on Friday (as expected) when teams started showing off their fighting ability for the finals.
But in Toronto, our first match of the day was a big brawl (it ended up being a 30-10 match… Toronto definitely seemed more violent. Even the refs appeared to emphasize the pushing aspects during their opening statements on Friday. Our team really wasn’t designed to fight. As those who worked with us know, we can get the job done, but if someone comes out to bully us, we have issues. Our qualifying rounds in Canadia were much lower scores than Cleveland, possibly because teams were out to shut us down, rather than out score us. The gloves have decidedly come off…
Anyone else notice this, am I totally off base?
~JVN
Strategy Head
Team 229 - Clarkson University
This was not the case in Grand Rapids (in my view).
Teams were our to score as much as possible almost all the way up through Saturday. A few teams that were out of the hunt for the top 8 went out to show what they could do in terms of controlling goals on Saturday morning but on the whole it wasn’t that much rougher than the rest of the tourney.
Joe J.
Yes, we have been scouting. We also know that the game has changed a bit. Balls have started to win more matches, and the ball handlers are getting stronger and more nimble. Come nationals, the game will not be completely different, but it will sure be harder for 2-goal handlers like ourselves.
The three teams originally posted are definately not the only dominant teams, but they are talked about the most on this website, and have become much of the FIRST buzz this year from what I can tell. I think the question is not “can they be beaten?” but “how would we collectively beat those specific teams?”
I’d like to hear everybody’s thoughts about that, and thoughts on other teams that have potential as well. I know that if other teams are like us, you have all been brainstorming how to use your robot against a 3-goal, power 2-goal, and massive ball strategy. What has everyone been thinking? The more we collaborate, the better prepared we will be come nationals.
Jeff Alpert
Mentor
Team 469
Joe,
Thank you so much for the kind words! No worries about last year, you guys were great!
As for this year, I do think you would be impressed with our machine. Once we grab a goal, we latch on and go pickin! Our machine drives around with a goal on its back and sucks up balls and scores them immediately, with very few misses, if any. We also have the ability to store 10 - 15 balls when we don’t have a goal, then we deliver them. Our latching mechanism makes it easy for us to release, and our high gear gets us in the enzone in seconds flat.
Our performance at the UTC regional should serve notice that there will be very good machines NOT participating in the Nationals. Our QP’s in NE was 114, almost 30 points higher than Rage, the #2 seed. And I believe the highest in any regional.
Alas, with the rules being as they are, we were not initially qualified for Epcot. Therefore, we made a team decision to take all of our funds and participate in as many ‘local’ regionals as possible. We attended Long Island, 8th seed, losing in the semi’s, Philly, #1 seed, winning the championship, and NE, #1 seed, losing in the semis plus the quality award (did I mention that we have had only one minor repair to our robot after all of those matches).
We would love nothing more than to take a shot at the big prize, but we don’t have the funds.
We will be back, and we will be in Florida next year!
Mark,
Is this set in stone or can your team be pursuaded?
Isn’t there some school board member or high up sponsor exec somewhere who can be touched for the funds?
If you did it on a budget I suppose that you could send a reasonable subteam to represent you guys for under $15-20K (including the registration fee to FIRST), even at this late date.
Any chance?
By the way, where is your robot? Would FIRST even LET you go at this point?
Joe J.
Joe,
It is my understanding that if we can generate the funds, we can go. Our sponsors are tapped. I have contacted some other potential sponsors with minimal success. I am still waiting to hear back from others.
I would hope we could send a minimal team, with registration, I think we are looking at 10K.
As for the logistics of getting the robot there, I have not investigated. At this point I think it would take an extraordinary accomodation for us to attend.
If we can get a commitment within the week, I/we will iron out any details with FIRST if possible.
Too bad, we could ‘loan’ our robot to a team that needs one.
Another power house that nobody has mentioned yet is 343. With 2 regional championships under their belt they will be a force to be reckoned with at nationals.
This new system really reaked havoc on the teams in the NE Regional. I have watched regionals from every part of the country, and I will say that some of the best robots were here in the northeast. The sad part…many of them aren’t going! We all know that 157 isn’t going, which is a shame because that was one of the nastiest ball scorers at the competition. I saw that team 69 isn’t going either!!! Now that is crazy, they won the NE Regional, and played a huge part in why they alliance won it! They would have been one of my favorites to win it all! Also, I heard around the grapevine that the team with the most unbelievable ball pickup ever (clocked them at having 20 balls in posession 5 seconds into a match) team 95, would not be able to make it. Is this true? If so, ya gotta think with the lack of these teams, that will kinda taint the feel of winning the championship event. Now don’t get me wrong, I was highly impressed with what I saw out of 60, 71, and 469, but after this past weekend my whole view on what it takes to win this game changed, with teams like 69, 95, 121, 173, and 157, solid, powerful, fast ball scorers dominating the game.
Days like this, you wish Rumble at the Rock was still around…then we would truely know who was indeed the best.
Later,
Andy Grady =)