Today was the end of the last competition (IRI) for team 330. What are your favorite/best memories of them? You may say all of them too.
For me, I remember that in 2014, I saw my first FRC competition and saw 330 competing. I remembered their blue/yellow powder-coated robot. That was one of the only robots that I remembered from and that competition. From watching them compete, they sparked my interest in FRC. They ranked 1st on that competition.
I saw them again in 2017 before joining robotics later that year.
As an alumnus (2007 class) who’s been watching and following since they started back in 1998 (or 1997 but that’s confusing), I’d have to say the top few are, in no particular order…
2016: On Einstein, the self-righting twice in one match, and then winning the whole thing due to the tiebreaker. This resulted in the “BeachBot Exception” to the tiebreakers in the rules the next year: On Einstein finals, there are no tiebreakers. I was watching from the Einstein stands, but not with 330… 1197, my current team, was sitting not too far away, and cheering for 330 as we’d been knocked out already.
2005: Seed 2nd, with only one draw and no losses in the division, choose 67 (who won CCA that year as well), and then come back from a match down on Einstein semis to win the whole thing against 254 and another legendary team, 64. * Incidentally, the “no wedge” rules in the manual the next couple of years were somewhat blamed on that alliance–personally, I pick on a team near us for that.
One of my favorites, though, was at a demo after the 2005 season. One of the local teams showed up there–and at IRI–with a carbon copy of our tetra hook on their turreted extension arm. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And as I recall, it was at that event that one of the students discovered that the arm had been sluggish… because one of the two motors was unplugged. (The next edition of the arm–in 2007–only had one motor after we needed to lose weight to carry a second robot ramp.)
.
P.S. I’m 90% sure the team never did get any powdercoating done. Anodizing and spray paint all the way.
*64 retired following that year, due to a variety of reasons. They won a ridiculous amount of hardware that year but didn’t quite get The Big One.
This is probably one of our favorite misconceptions; at almost every comp, someone asks if we powdercoat. It’s really just rattle can spray paint now. Most of the blue on our robots before 2012 was anodized (drive frames, early elevators, etc), but almost everything else was painted.
Watching them at the San Diego regional our rookie year, 2008. Our pit was just across the aisle from them and we were totally amazed by their robot. Still remember one of their mentors telling me that they would test their robot by driving full speed into the wall.
I have quite a few memories, as I’ve been exposed to 330 since 5th grade (2012).
This is a bit of a strange one, but looking back at 2016 I think a lot about the climber. The dunks were always great, but there was a lesson that was to be learned from that robot. With every single time that climber broke, I saw that even the best teams had their flaws.
I also really enjoy their 2012 robot for some reason, it wasn’t overly complicated and it did well.
The biggest memory I have came in interacting with them at 2017 champs. I was (and still am) a massive 330 fanboy, so I immediately felt like I had to get my hands on a shirt. They were all so nice in helping me find someone willing to trade, for just a 3512 shirt. They were always wonderfully humble, and it meant so much for them to help me. I have so much respect for their students and mentors, SoCal FRC just won’t be the same without them.
I remember 330 back in 2007 on Curie. It was our rookie year and they were an incredibly dominant robot, winning our division. We were the 1st backup robot for our field, so we got to watch all the elimination matches from the Georgia Dome floor. They were a great inspiration for our team.
