Teams whose process and engineering I love in general:
Teams that make/made really great and creative things:
My first ever event I got to see 67 (The HOT Team). I didn’t know they were a world champion at the time but I knew they were something special. To this day I have rooted for them.
Another great team that I love would 217 (ThunderChickens). They have always been helpful and an all around great team.
Thanks man! That means a lot! Especially coming from someone who has made some pretty awesome programs himself.
As for my inspirations, the big three are usually 254, 2056, and 1114. All three are world class teams in every respect.
Playing with 118 and 16 this year, even just in a qualifier, was such a learning experience also, both went above and beyond my already sky high expectations.
Other teams that I often draw inspiration from in more ways than one include 987, 971, 1678, 180, 330, 2481, 2451, and many many others. We are lucky to have so many inspiring teams in FRC.
I met many amazing teams on my travels through the years in FIRST but the team that stands out to me as the perfect FIRST team is 365. They are what Dean Kamen envisioned when he thought of the standard FIRST should adhere to.
Thank you. It is an honor for our team to be mentioned in this category.
My personal inspiration is Team 1519. They are absolutely the nicest, most down-to-earth and genuine group of people… **and **they always build solid and effective machines. They are great role models both technically and personally. 
Branding, robot design, professionalism, outreach, resources…definitely the team that inspired me in the most areas as a student.
+1
As a rookie going to champs for the first time in 2013, 1538 blew my mind not only with their robot, but when I saw their pit and branding it was outstanding… no surprise to me that year they won world chairman’s. I’ve always been watching what they make every year because it’s just been beautiful.
1538 is the definition of professional. Everything they do is of such a high quality. They make me proud to be from a San Diego team.
I wouldn’t forget your own team either ;). I was also amazed at the quality and professional feeling when I saw the Warlord’s pit and robot at champs this year- 2052’s pit was right across from yours. You guy’s are included when I think of great FRC teams in the west.
Right back at you! A team like 2052 that can bring home a regional win and an RCA at the same event is exactly the kind that we strive to be one day.
I made a quick post before but I think I am going to make a longer one talking about all the teams who have inspired me.
In 2014 my rookie year I did not know much about FRC and for lack of better words we were terrible.
Our robot was a mess but at the time I just thought everyone’s robots were a mess. That was until I showed up at our regional. Our pit neighbor was team 3940 Cybertooth and I saw this beautiful purple powder coated robot. I was like woah they are good. I had no idea how they did in the competition all I knew was their robot looked really professional. Ironically because of luck we seeded higher then them which to me made me think we beat them. I have a good laugh at that now.
4039 was also at that event and really showed me how crazy people get about team image. I did not realize how good their robot was at the time but man those people liked their rainbow.
Later that season after the event I saw team 254s reveal video and was amazed. I have watched that video more time then I care to admit. I then looked back at their 2013 “reveal” video and was amazed once again. I then ventured on to youtube. Where I watched every single 118 reveal I could find and was again amazed at what people did in FRC.
Through the summer of 2014 I did a lot of watching and started reading stuff here. Now adays a few other teams that inspire me are probably 1678, 359, 195, 610, 27, 2056, 148, 179, 67 and 1241.
There are many teams that have inspired me over the years.
Team 701 has been a HUGE inspiration of mine since my freshman year. They consistently produce top notch robots with elegant design features; have a wonderful team camaraderie that extends to people outside their team; and have inspired countless students from their communities, to China, to pursue higher educations in STEM.
Team 1678 has a similar story. They always provide a helping hand to local teams, putting on many dozens of workshops and events (VEX, FRC & FLL). Citrus Circuits have helped local teams attain success not thought possible, and my team was certainly no exception. I’ve spent a lot of time with their students and mentors, and their teams success is a reflection of their students and mentors work ethic and attitude. A truly world class team.
Team 1671 is another phenomenal team that immediately comes to mind. Those students work HARD and make amazing bots. I’ve visited their shop at all times of year and they are always busting butt! The Bird Brains always maintain a high standard of achievement and gracious professionalism.
There are many other exceptional teams that have inspired me over the years worth mentioning:
2073, 3250, 100, 3189, 692, 971 and 254 to name a few.
Thank you all for all you do for the FIRST community here in Cali!
As others have mentioned team 2052 KnightKrawler is one of the top teams on my list of inspirational teams. At the beginning of build season I always ask myself how can my team compete with KnightKrawler. I hope that my team can eventually get to Champs with enough consistency that I can start asking myself how I’m going to beat the 1114’s, 1678’s, and 254’s of the world, but at least for now they’ll have to inspire me from afar.
On the Chairman’s side of things I’m most inspired by 1816 and by the program they’ve established. I consider them to be the team to beat at any competition they attend. I’m pulling for them every year to get into the Hall of Fame.
Another team that inspires me to a great degree is GOFIRST at the University of Minnesota. Obviously not an FRC team, but they are a team of college students comprised primarily of FRC alumni. They’ve inspired me in many ways, and definitely changed my path at college.
1323 for me. I’ve been able to see RC transform that team from 2007 onwards and they continue to impress me with how “unique” they are. Still one of my favorite teams in FRC.
For myself, I would say teams 67 and 469, specifically in 2010. I attended the 2010 Detroit district, and 67 was the first team I ever saw in action, and I was just amazed by their robot. Then, I attended the Michigan State Championship with team 3175 because they qualified, and they told me to watch out for 469 cause they had a crazy robot. They were right, and I made sure to watch every match possible that 469 was in because I thought they were so cool. 3175 didn’t qualify for Atlanta that year, but I was cheering from home to see the two teams make it to the Einstein finals, and having seen them in person, it really got me excited to join the team in 2013.
25, 341, 1218, and 2590 were local sources of inspiration for us as we grew our program. Especially 341 – Daisy’s 2012 robot is referenced in some way every year as we design the current year’s robot
Team 67’s 2012 robot is the robot that inspired me to step up my game. It was such an elegant machine, with no feature that felt unnecessary or wasted.
And really those are the robots that inspire me the most. The robots where every actuation and movement has a purpose, and the robot is as simple as possible to do what the team wants it to do.
1678 is another great example. Their robots the past four years have been so intelligently designed.
225 is an excellent example as well, and anyone who has seen their 2013 robot knows that they didn’t start off with crazy resources.
In addition to 1816, I believe 2220 is also the team to beat at any competition Chairman’s, Engineering Inspiration, or simply award wise in MN and in FRC- winning chairman’s at Central Illinois against stellar Illinois teams was impressive.
Blue Twilight has been an inspiration to me winning the awards they win on a consistent basis- their outreach program is truly established and really impressive. 2220 has just as good as a shot as 1816 into getting into HOF IMO.
I find 1241, 1477, and 610 to be inspirational because of their against-the-odds championship win. Also, all three of them are very friendly and I’ve enjoyed seeing how they play the game. 610 puts out some of the most polished and well-made reveal videos of the entire FRC world. 1241 and 1477 build very unique and recognizable robots, and they’re usually some of the first robots I recognize.
After 17 seasons in FIRST, I wanted to mention several teams from our earlier years that provided inspiration with respect to their overall program (engineering, outreach, and program management).
If I forget some off the top of my head, sorry in advance. These are just the teams that I had contact with and/or saw personally while at regional competitions and the Championships early on.
16, 25, 33, 45, 60, 64 (no longer around), 67, 71, 103, 111, 118, 148, 217, 233, 254, 330, 341, 365, 368, 469, 842, 987, and 1114.
All of these teams were awesome from the beginnings of their respective program. We marveled at their engineering feats as well as the non-robot aspects of their programs.
This would be difficult to do today or in recent years simply because their are just too many to mention.
A rule of thumb for me personally is taking away something new, neat or creative of the participating robots from every tournament we attend and from the teams that we meet.
Our program is where it is today, because we always learned from the best and tried to emulate in some form or fashion what they have done. Being from Hawaii has many disadvantages…but having the opportunity to participate in so many different regional competitions has definitely helped us overcome the challenges.