Over past seasons, what driver / operator combinations have you seen that just “clicked” and could really “become one” with their robot?
It could be any game, any year, any team.
You can post driver / operator duo’s from your team, but don’t post about yourself. (If you are really a classic, someone will post it for you.)
I will start it off -
2001 Game, David Kelly and Ellie Myer. This was the game with the large ball that was placed on top of the scoring column. Ellie wore a backpack with a mechanical arm attached to hers and she controlled the arm of the robot with her movements. David drove the robot and the combination was great.
The driving team from 488 seems to always be having fun on the field, no matter how good they’re doing. They also seem to click together and get right down to it.
Any year of Team 71’s existence. They face adversity like no other.
For example:
In 2004, I didn’t think they had a chance after they were defeated in the semi’s of Midwest (don’t know other performances for regionals) by the alliance of 648, 65, and 447. However, they ended up winning the whole she-bang…
In 2007, we again defeated them in the semifinals of Midwest and then they were Championship runner-ups…
330 2007. Their arm and base driver were perfectly coordinated. One of those special drive teams where you almost can’t tell it’s two different people controlling the robot.
Jay Lundy from Team 254. IIRC, he won 6 regionals between 2001-2004. In 2001 & 2004, he was simply spectacular.
The Beachbots had an amazing driveteam this year, and of course in their championship year of 2005. I saw a lot of them this year at the championship, and they excelled at making the minimal amount of movements to get from point A to point B. It was really a pleasure to watch.
It is the same driveteam… Along with being one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, their driver shane is currently a junior and has been driving since '05. I’m pretty sure his codriver, elijah, is a junior too. They’ve got one more season left in them.
176, 201, and 306 in 2006 particularly impressed me with their on the fly strategy decisions in the events we played with them, and their drivers were always on top of things. From 176’s picking strategy on Newton, to 201’s novel of autonomous modes and play-by-play strategies that they handed to us on Galileo, and 306’s genius blocking of MOE at Philadelphia in the semi-finals, these teams were always thinking ahead.
Of course, few can forget 25’s base driver in 2006 (Corey Balint), and the undefeated 2 regional winning streak. I hate to patronize my own team as well, but our 2006 base driver (Greg Marra), managed to win 2 regionals using defense, sometimes winning in matches where no balls were scored outside of autonomous, and then arriving on Einstein undefeated at Nationals. Tom Bottligeri of 195 serving as Coach also comes to mind, because the astonishing “A-Bomb” where 195 passed balls to 968 on Einstein was developed by these three.
Both 176 and 148’s drive teams deserve very special distinctionfor this year, because they both drove our robot when travel arrangements fell apart. 176 stepped in for us in 2 matches at UTC when our Board of Education told us we couldn’t participate anymore, and 148 drove on Thursday of Nationals when only our base driver was present and everyone else was stuck in airports.
I’ll second the vote for Kyle Love. Ever since seeing them for the first time in St. Louis, I kept telling my scouters “man, I would just loovvve to drive a match with 45!” It’s really too bad we didn’t get more of a chance in Atlanta…
Also, 233’s drive team from this year. With that funky arm setup, it would be easy for the driver to say “okay let me position it, you just let go” or the arm operator to say “you just get it close, I’ll finish it.” Watching them play, however, you can’t tell who is the “dominant” member of the driving strategy. It truly functions like one fluid operation.
I’ll admit… I don’t know very much else about the history of drive teams, this being my rookie year, but I’d like to throw out 217’s driver from last year, Mike Ross. When he gets behind the joysticks, he really is one with the robot. He sees things out on the field as if he’s sitting on the robot, and I can vouch firsthand for his defensive driving abilities dude knows what the game is about, and deserves to lay claim to a championship.
Who do is the best driver I have seen… just look at the trophy’s he has under his (big) belt; 4 regional Championships, and a Championship Division finalist.
You probably guessed what team he is from, the powerful Simbotics team (1114). He knew how to get the most out of his bot, I’ve heard mythical stories of how much time he spent from Shipdate to GLR driving their practice bot.
There are some great drive teams listed here. Here are some others:
old school… Weren’t Andy Grady and Colleen Shaver on the same drive team on Gael Force in '98? That would have been interesting. Colleen was very good in 1999, and with Grady as a partner in '98, they probably were awesome.
Kevin Kolodziej and Sarah Michna on team 71 were great in 01 and 02. Their skills led to 71’s dominance. Add these two to the winningest coach in FIRST, Brian Beatty, and you have an unbeatable drive team.
Also, in 2002, I believe that Joel Johnson and Jeff Rodriguez were on the same drive team for RAGE. This duo capped off a Championship with their mad skills. Joel even was caught smiling a few times, they were so good.
But… if I had to pick one drive team who made the most out of each situation they were in… Tyler and Nick from team 292 in 2003. They were #1 seed at Great Lakes, Midwest, and won the Newton division as alliance captains. Everyone who played against them didn’t know how they did it… but they just drove well. They did this with a coach who gave little direction (he didn’t need to… the drivers were that good) and a robot that was very reliable but also very simple.
I think 108’s 2005 drive team was 108’s best, if not one of the best in general. They worked great together, and took a decent-at-best robot and made it into a division winner. They both understood how key a good strategy was and always had a way of winning. (most of the time…)
The 2001 Bobcat Team (177) of Eric O’Brien and Tom Schindler. They drove that robot as though it was a perfect extension of their own arms. Handling the Big ball, dragging goals around and balancing them on the bridge, as well as limbo’ing, were all made to look so easy… They turned an average, “do all” robot (one that didn’t specialize in any one task, like most winning robots in 2001) into a Championship caliper Robot.
I guess that goes to show how much of a difference stick time on the robot means.
BEN
P.S. Andy, your alliance toasted our 175/126/230 alliance with your auto-balance. So, I can’t give all the credit to your drivers that year…
Yeah, they were very good. They toasted our alliance in the finals of our division in Epcot. Didn’t these two goofballs wear “Sugar Daddy” (the candy) shirts or something like that? Crazy.
The “best” driver combo from our team would have to be the 2003 drivers. They were -from what Ken said- in sync with each other. And not to mention our driveteam is on the FIRST brochure I love pointing that out to kid in our school.
The Beachbots (330) 2005-2007 drivers strike me as frighteningly talented. They took two great bots and took them up a notch into elite competitors.
Pretty much anyone behind the sticks for Buzz (175) is spectacular (unless their drivers end up sidelined…like Chesapeake 2007). Every year their drivers elevate their machines to compete with bots that should totally outclass them (not that 175’s bots are bad).
222’s 2004-2006 (2003 too?) driver was amazing as well. Even when the Tigertrons weren’t particularly overwhelming in 2005 and 2006, he managed to get them into positions where they could win every match, and they often did. Pity 222 still hasn’t been able to capture a regional title.
1038’s 2006 driver managed to captivate me a few times with some ridiculous driving on Galileo. The Thunderhawks pulled off some moves that robots shouldn’t be able to do (especially without an omni-drive), it was downright amazing.
And, of course, a shout out to 116’s 2006-2007 drivers, Baxter and Justin. There’s no way our machines should be putting up the scores they were when they were driving (including the 2006 & 2007 VCU high scores, and the 2007 Galileo high score). In 2006, we were one of the best offensive and defensive bots at both of our regionals, not because of our bot itself, but because of how well they could handle the machine. In 2007 the bot was good enough that we became the primary offensive option in every one of our matches, and they got a new job, beating the opposing defense, which they had mastered by the end of VCU (8 matches against the best defender we faced all year, 122, helped), and put on display at Championship, where we were routinely scoring through defense, even often double-teams.
dude knows what the game is about, and deserves to lay claim to a championship.
I love pointing that out to kid in our school.