60 in '02. I was amazed when i saw that robot.
71 in ‘02 for obvious reasons
254/968 06’ just the effectiveness and the elegance of them is amazing
Here’s my algorithm for answering:
- Go to IRI 2007, and watch all the matches.
- Look at the field at the end of the last match.
- The best FIRST robot [strike]ever[/strike] so far will be there, and you won’t need to ask which one it is.
I don’t think it is such an easy question. Certainly, 71 is probably the most SUCCESSFUL robot in the history of FIRST, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is the “best.” I wasn’t around in 2001 but you mention that because of the way the game was set up if 71 got going you couldn’t defend it, or maybe I misunderstand what you meant. But that would seem to me to imply that 71 did as well as it did atleast partially because of that particular game setup. When you look at a game like the past two years a good defensive robot, or even a decent one, could take what everyone previously considered the “best” bot at a regional and take them from scoring hundreds of points to only scoring one or two. So it would stand to reason that any robot that can score a couple hundred while being heavily defended must be absolutely amazing.
I’ve only been around two years but only a few robots seem to meet this criteria. The Feds last year almost never missed the target, even when being defended.(atleast at WMR and GLR) And this year both 1114 and 330 could score 5+ tubes even while being heavily defended. That definitely pushes those three teams up there on my list. But the thing is these teams might not all win every single one of their matches because of the aforementioned heavy defense.
Not to say 71 didn’t have an amazing bot in 2001, I really wouldn’t know since I wasn’t around, I’m just saying you have to think about more then just how many awards a bot has won when considering which is the best.
Not everyone here knows what’s so special about Beatty’s 2002 robot. I’ll do a quick explaination of it right now.
Basically, it was a flop-bot. It had a very quick drive system that was driven by two skyway wheels in the back. It had two arms that unfolded to grab onto the two goals on the sides of the field, and one grabber in the front to grab onto the middle goal. So, already, we know that this BEAST can grab all three goals. Not a common thing this year.
When it grabs onto these goals, it pulls the two side ones closer to avoid breaking those PVC arms, and the front of the robot drops down onto it’s “crawling” mechanism. The robot then slowly, but quite surely, moved it’s way to the zone with all three goals. The robot almost guaranteed that alliance 30 points while the other alliance could only get 20 points by having both robots in their endzone.
You can watch one of their matches right here.
It’s pretty much impossible to stop the BEAST once it started crawling across the field.
You can also watch one of the only ways Beatty could be defeated here..
Very true. Let me expand on my reasoning. Yes, Beatty brought home all the trophies in 2001, but this isn’t why I consider them the best of all time.
Team 71 was utterly dominant in 2001. There was no way anyone could beat them, unless 71 were to make a mistake. In the elimination rounds, they never did. Now, in the 2001 game, you didn’t have to deal with defense. The only way to beat a team was to form a better alliance than them. No one was able to do this. At no point during the 2001 season, did I ever feel Beatty was close to being challenged.
The 2001 game was a pure engineering design challenge. Beatty simply out smarted and out engineered every one. Just thinking about that robot and it’s dominance makes my spine tingle.
In my six years of FIRST the one bot that made me just shake my hed in amazement was the 2004 robot from HOT. That thing was an offensive monster.
Part of what made the 2001 Beatty 'bot so special was the fact that there was no opposition. It was your average score that mattered. And Team Hammond was at least 30% higher than everyone else at every single event they went to. In essence that means, they were 130% better than the second best bot that year. Very few teams in FIRST history, if any other, can say that with definitive proof. 71 out-engineered everyone.
But…I ranked their 2002 bot ahead of their 2001 bot. Why? Because of what you said, it did have to interact against incredibly well engineered machines…and it still DOMINATED.
My favorite ever was Tigerbolt in 1996.
My first choice is Beatty from 2002, but enough people have commented on that one, so I’ll choose some other robots, too.
I think WildStang from last year may have been the best robot of all time, certainly of last year. I know 25 went 36-0, but you know who gave 25 its first defeat? WildStang. This robot could do everything better than any other robot. It had arguably the best autonomous mode last year. It could pick up off the ground like a champ. It could get on the ramp (and ramp shoot!). It could play defense. But the most impressive feature was the turret. The robot could be moving horizontally across the field and and the turret would stay constantly pointed at the goal, balls always pouring in. 25 may have beaten 111 in the Newton Finals last year, but WildStang put up an amazing fight.
FIRST could really throw a kink in the whole “Drive Train Arms Race” by switching back to 4v0 for a year.
if i was to say my number one favorite robot of all time, it would not be any robot from 2004, i hated that game, just my opinion dont get mad. but i would have to say 25 or 16 from 2003. they were devistatingly good. i know i spelled that workd completly wrong but i dont care, haha. if you had a chance to watch either of those those teams thatyear, or have the pleasure of having video of them, you will see, how good they were. 16 got up that ramp soooo fast, ask 71 from midwest, they can tell ya how fast they were (if you dont know, 16 was so fast, they knocked over 71 in auto mode when 71 put their arm up there to knock over the tower of boxes. 71 was the best robot to do that that year…a.k.a like 1.5 seconds) they were awesome. 25 that year was a defencive beast. they could push anyone off the top of that ramp or any where on that field. they were awesome. i think teams like that get lost becuase of how well other great teams did that year. we should look at other teams…here are some(haha):
2002: 308 469 66
2003: 16 25 292
2004: 494 1241 648
2005: 383 537 1701
2006: 222 121 47(at iri)
2007: 503 79(haha galilieo #8 alliance) 1015 903 648
those are teams that should get brought up there, it is because of teams like that that those great teams could be great. great teams cant win it all by them selves any more. i think thats who we should be looking at, now im not saying that 71, 111, 25 from those years arent great, trust me when i say that u i think they are, but we also need to look at who helped them along they way.
just a thought i had inmy head, nothing to start a fight about.
haha
steve “the stevie” alvarado
edit:i took a team off of that list becuase, evidently, i was boasting. its no big deal, people know who they are. haha and remember every one…they are just dots. 
2002-71 (didn’t see it in person, but saw video)
2003-111
2004-494
2005-1402, 179, 103
2006-25 or the triplets,
2007-330, 1114,
Oh man…
2000: 25, 131
2001: 71. Most “dominant” robot I’ve seen during my time.
2002: 71 again. But I’ll pay my respects to 60 (beautiful engineering), and 469.
2003: 25.
2004: 45.
2005: 173.
2006: 25 drove the best. 1114 was the best.
2007: 1114.
The best robot I’ve ever seen? Not counting driver, or etc? 60 from 2002, or 45 from 2004.
My picks…
2001- 71
2002- 71/60
2003- 111
2004- 45
2005- 67
2006- 25
2007- 330/1114
Overall- 71 from 2001
To add my year by year picks (in order, because i’m that bored)
1998 - 47, 111, 16, 177, 67
1999 - 111, 71, 45, 16, 68
2000 - 47, 111, 126, 25, 308
2001 - 71, 254, 111, 45, 177
2002 - 71, 60, 469, 173, 111
2003 - 111, 25, 16, 67, 469
2004 - 254, 60, 45, 67, 71
2005 - 254, 67, 71, 217, 229
2006 - 25, 469, 111, 254, 217
2007 - 330, 148, 233, 469, 254
Seeing as how this is the only year that I’ve been to Nats and seen the cream of the crop…
'07: 1902, 25, 190, 100, 254
Those are the 5 that stand out in my mind at the moment.
Yearly: that I’ve been to Atlanta
'05: 233, 330, 67, 69, 22
'06: 254/968, 25, 217, 233, 1114
'07: 330, 1114, 233, 968/254, 190
How can you have 22 for '05, but not 254?
So far from my three years of going to nats:
05 - 330, 22, 233
06 - 968, 217, 1114
07 - 330, 1114, 254
Didn’t personally see enough of the poofs that year =P, both bots were quite similiar anyway