I saw the thread for best pure cycler, and I was wondering, who was the best at each aspect of the game? Here are the aspects I thought of (I will leave cycler to that thread):
FCS
Climber
Defense
Floor Pickup
Shooter-Climber
All Around
I would like to see everyone’s opinion on these, and if possible, post links to videos for each robot.
I would like to give 2485’s FCS some credit.
Pure climber? Not many well-done pure climbers. And the ones there are usually didn’t make it to champs
In my opinion, top few robots in a few categories in order (As a robot’s primary function):
FCS: 148, 2169, 67, 195, 225, 2468, 2485, 1806,
Climber(Pure climber): 2170, 4451, uhhhhh…
Defense: 4814, 2789, 968
Floor Pickup: 1538, 2056, 33, 2415, 3539, 2054, 3476, 624
Shooter-Climber: 1114, 254, 3467, 1334, 1640, 1986(they should have climbed more)
All-Around: 469, 987, 118, 254, 1986, 1717, 1983
FCS: 2169
Climber: No pure climbers really come to mind besides Robotz garage
Defense: Texplosion(can’t remember team #) Though lots of teams played defense well, they were talked about the most…
Floor pick-up: 2056 & 33/1538
Shooter-climber: 1114 or 254 edge to 1114 for their colored disc dump
The top 5 (IMO) not in any order are:
FCS: 148, 2169, 67, 469, 1806
Climber: 1421, 4451, 1810, 1023, 340(All climb and dumps)
Defense: 3284, 2789, 4814, 3847, 3885(A bit biased on this one 
)
Floor Pick Up: 2056, 118, 1477, 33, 1538
Shooter/Climber: 1114, 254, 1986, 1334, 3467
All-Around: 469, 987, 254, 1114, 1986
869 was an outstanding defender from MAR. They had a fanbot with a sleeve and a great drivetrain/drivers that could virtually shut down top scorers. I even saw them defend three robots all at once.
225 was also one of the best pure FCS that I saw.
And of course 2590 was up there in terms for floor pickups.
Finally, 1640 was a top contender for all around once they got their climb working.
Just because they didn’t make it to champs doesn’t mean that they weren’t any good!
We had a good year, and ended up one spot out of qualifying for St. Louis. You can see video of our climb on the Detroit Public Television website at:
http://www.dptv.org/programs/robotics/
If you click on the quarter finals video and go to 56:15 you can see our 30 point climb followed by 1918’s 30 point climb.
We definitely weren’t fast but we were really consistent. When we went for the top level, we made it 90% of the time and only took one fall in over 50 matches. Even though most brushed it off by week 6, it still turned out to be a game changer at the MSC when a climber could put up 74 points in a match.
Here’s my opinions:
FCS-195
Climber-3467 (they shoot 4 cycles too, but their climber is amazing)
Defense-2789
Floor Pickup-2056
Shooter-Climber-1114
All Around-469
I didn’t see anything outside of Michigan, and I may be a bit biased, but this was my thoughts (This is MI only):
FCS (only): 2137
Pure Climber: 4294
Defense: 3547 or 3175 (I’m biased, I know.)
Floor Pickup: 33
Shooter-Climber: 67
All Around: 469
FCS (only): 2169
Pure Climber: 4451
Defense: 2789
Floor Pickup: 2056
Shooter-Climber: 67
All Around: 469
My personal opinons, in no particular order:
FCS: 2169
Pure Climber: 1421 about 20 second climb and dump, could also get 8 discs into the 1 point goal in a match, made it to CMP
Defense: 233 and 2789 (233 may seem like an odd pick but they had a great driver and when they needed to could play outstanding defense)
Floor Pickup: 2056, 1477, 118, 1538
Shooter-Climber: 1114, 1986, 254,
All Around: 254, 469, 1114, 987
I’d put 1477 in the All Around category after watching Einstein. They ran cycles, swept the floor, played defense, and finally found a use for their elevator by blocking 469’s FCS. Plus, they can full court shoot (like the rest of their Championship alliance), but as Mr. Lim put it, they could beat that by cycling.
Yeah, I was gonna put 1477 in the all around category…but they could shoot full court?
[maaaad Canadian Bias.]
Cycler: 610
FCS: 1310
Climber: 1334
Defense: 4814
Floor Pickup: 2056
Shooter-Climber: 1114
All Around: 1114
I’ll throw 3309 into the “Pure Climber”. They did have a shooter, but they mainly used it in automode–maybe one or two cycles afterwards. Then they’d go to the player station, grab 3-4 colored discs, and head for the corner of the pyramid. If they were left undefended they’d be at the top by the end, and the discs would be in the goal.
FCS - 148, 2169
Pure Climber - 1421, 4451
Defense - 3284 and 2337 are both very good since they have built in 84" blockers and strong drive trains
Floor Pickup - 469, 987, 1538, 2056, 118, 1477, 624, 33, 3539, etc.
Shooter-Climber - 1114, 67
All Around - 1114 when they’re at their best, just because of how unique they are. It’s been shown that three cyclers w/ a 7 disc auto can put up huge scores; i.e. The World Champs. Had one of them been able to convert their last cycle to 28 extra points it would have made their scores even harder to beat.
To be fair, 1477 had a good 7-disc auto. It rarely made all 7, but it was good no less. They also swept the floor for their alliance sometimes.
Now, yeah, if you replaced any of the three world champs with 1114, they would have been better, but if 1114 had worked at their best during their divisional eliminations, they might have been where the eventual world champs are.
I hesitate to put 1114 on top for that reason.
I put 469 on top because they do everything amazing except climbing, they have any auto you could ask for, and they’re just amazing overall.
Now imagine if the rumors are true and they’re actually adding a climber for IRI. Scary.
what about 558 for defense, strong drive train and a high blocker
FCS: 1519, 148, 67, 2169, and 195 all deserve nods here. They all peaked at different times and have various advantages and disadvantages. The common factor in all of them - they used FCS as their primary strategy, their CG was low enough to avoid tipping (at least in their final iterations), and they were more accurate than many cyclers.
Climber: 3467, 254, and 1114 were the only three climbers consistent and fast enough to be in contention for this title. Many good climbers and climber dumpers this year, but these three were the best. Special nod to 2170, probably the best / fastest climber dumper I have seen this year, and one of the only ones that did the maneuver quickly enough that they could afford to actually play some defense.
Defense: 862, 4814, and 2168 all stand out as robots with specific defensive functions built into their robot that allow them to effectively defend in a variety of scenarios. All three of them were very well driven.
Floor Pickup: Ruling out any team without a 7-disc autonomous (sorry 20). 469 cycled more than they swept the floor, but that pickup was amazing. 33, 254, 341, 1538, 1310, 2056, and many others all had great floor pickups. There is a lot of parity in terms of quality of pickup mechanisms this year.
Shooter-Climber: See “Climber”. The only change is the omission of 2170.
All Around: In my opinion, the best overall robot of 2013 was 469. (Is this what this category was supposed to mean? Because not one robot in FRC executed every game task this year)
Canadian bias or not, this is a great list. Your defense on Curie was the most exciting and unexpected highlight of champs for me.