i was going to put them up there on my “if it wasnt for these teams” post but i only wanted to put up a couple teams per year. i could list all of the ones i think were like that but it would be a very long list.
That robot was definitely awesome, but i dont think it can take “best robot ever”…
Ive got to give it to Beatty of '02…
I choose not to give it to Beatty of '01 because Beatty of '02 competed against other robots (not saying what 71 did in 01 was not impressive).
What impressed me most about Beatty of '02 was not their robot (not that their machine was flawed, which it was nearly flawless)…but how they so perfectly heard the game and predicted winning was in the goals.
Its a very bold move to say ok, we want our robot to move 30 feet…the entire match, but we’re gonna do it so perfectly no one can stop us.
Their strategy combined with amazing engineering wins them best robot ever in my eyes…71 in '02
Not to take anything away from Beatty–I completely agree with your analysis, and they’re my second or third favorite robot ever, but it’s worth noting that 173 bailed them out on Einstein with balls, which was what ended up winning the championship.
thats why i say that 173 was the best robot that year.
i did like 47s bot that year too tho…not saying it was the best, but i liked it
25’s robot in 2006 was amazing. My team was in their alliance in new jersey and even though they were guarded the were still scoring. but in my mind the best was 56’s robot in 2005. I’ve never seen anybody dominate as many matches single handedly as they did.
Twice, I watched 121 beat 173.
Once at the UTC Regional, and once at Battlecry 3.
121’s robot was better than 173’s robot in 2002. (IMO, of course)
this is all opinion of course haha
121 always puts up a solid robot.
If we’re looking for the bots that have inspired the most people, there are a few that stand out.
Chief Delphi, with the first bot in FIRST with “omni-directional” motion with their swerve drive. The bots would be going at it, and all of a sudden 47 would start strafing. Amazing.
45’s 2-speed dog shifter. I’m not sure if the Technokats were the first to use a dog shifter or a 2-speed in FIRST, but they inspired the most. Their transmission is the ancestor to most in FIRST today (most obviously the AndyMarks). They inspired generations of FIRSTers to design new multi-speed transmissions, and improve on upon their design. Even aside of the AM Shifters, descendant drives can still be found on robots today (such as the 4-speed cluster shifter of 1126, 379’s 2-speed, and 716’s drive).
857’s kiwi-drive in 2002. The first vector-based system in FIRST, this 3-wheeled holonomic drive sent ripples through FIRST like few systems ever will. The popularity of holonomic and mecanum systems today can directly be linked to this bot.
Guess what, I’m gonna mention 45 again! Their roller claw way back in '98 demonstrated a quick and efficient way of manipulating single balls (and tubes, as proven in '07).
If we’re going to count single events, I couldn’t agree more. I (and many others) doubted Team Hammond going into IRI 2006. They proved that doubting 71 is ALWAYS a mistake. During the elimination matches, nobody put on a more dominating performance at an event packed with dominant teams. Some of the teams most frequently mentioned in this thread for the best robots in 2006 (25, 1114, and 217) lost to 71 during the eliminations (not to mention 494, 233, and 33).
I still go back to the Beatty robot from 1997. By far, more dominant than any other robot since…including the dominating 2001 Beatty robot.
Go back and look at the video (if you can find it)…
Beatty, stops at human player, turns around, caps, game over in 6 seconds. We timed it.
Name me a robot in the past 16 years that could win a match in 6 seconds? I think you’d be hard pressed to find one.
Could you describe what they did and what their strategy was?
In 1997, the main objective of the game was to take innertubes and hang them on a goal much similar to the one we had this year. The difference was you could get big points for scoring on the apex of the goal. Many teams would actually have a cap which you could load up with tubes and place on the apex. What Beatty did, was unfold, stop at the human player so the human player could place his whole stack on the cap. They then would turn around and cap the apex of the goal. Each tube on the cap would double the score. From there, they would score on the lower rungs to offset any teams who capped over the cap they had on the goal.
They were nearly unstoppable, though Delphi did get to them in one round.
I don’t know about the best, but my favorites are
2003- 980- I loved this robot, it had so many awesome features, like the 13 foot arm, the lift that also turned into “wings” for knocking over boxes, and an awesome wheel switching transmission
2004- 330- awesome, easily my favorite Beach Bot, they did a good job thinking out of the box, and the robot was very well designed
2005- 22/254/968- beautiful, very well designed robots
2006- 254/968- very effective top goal scorer
2007- 75- I only saw them saw them play one match, but their robot is beautiful, and very well engineered
2004 - 60/254
2005 - 22/254
2006 - 254/968
2007 - 254/968
See any patterns?
Beyond best robot, there is best driver. There are a lot of robots out there that would be middle-of-the-pack if not for outstanding driving. 330 in both 2005 and 2007 comes to mind.
as for 1997…ut oh, here comes the neg reps, i see them now but oh well…there were 3 great robots…71 47 65. and hey…that was the championship at nationals that year. beatty won matches in 6 seconds, 65 in 7 and 47 in 8…at least thats what i heard from people that were there.
I remember the tiger on the side. Cool working and looking machine!
#1) HOT in 2000.
The robot was awesome; could basically do forward and backward flips, and was very aesthetically pleasing. I went out of my way to watch every match that they were a part of and was amazed every time
#2) I’ll agree with Andy Baker: Chief Delphi, also in 2000
It was the beginning of dominant crab drives…so smooth
A few more votes:
1997: 71 was truely amazing scoring faster and higher than most of us imagined possible.
1999: Our robot was pretty good that year 
2002: 173 was harvesting balls so fast it was nearly impossible to keep up with them.
2006: I know they had some troubles in their regionals but 296 built a super bot and came through on the big field with some excellent partners: 217 and the best third pick of the year 522.
2007: The best year for alliances, no single robot dominated eleimination matches this year. Very Exciting for all of us.
I agree there…but I guess thats why you have partners. In the event theyre very solid strategy didnt work out, they had a great partner (173) to pick up the slack.
I just think about their overall strategy and am amazed everytime. They saw right through the balls and said if we get the goals, whats the point of balls.
95 harvested balls faster than anyone could have imagined 
beatty in 2002.
“I hate to say it’s over folks but there ain’t much hope”