Posted by Erin. [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Student on team #1, The Juggernauts, from Oakland Technical Center-Northeast Campus and 3-Dimensional Services.
Posted on 6/7/2000 6:52 AM MST
Ok, here is my well thought list.
I sat and watched some of the tapings of competitions I have and I came up with a few great teams.
However, these in no way reflect the views of my team, these are only my personal views.
Also remember that there are so many robots out there, so robots had to be awesome by numerous functions or the best in one area to make it on my list. About 8 teams tied for 11th!
Top ten robots based on quality and ability to perform (this is in no way based on my approval on a team through where I have friends or who I like best, etc.)
10.- Avondale / Notre Dame Killer Bees, sponsored by DiamlerChrysler, team 33.
This team was one of many that exemplified simplicity. They didn’t have any flashy tricks, no surprise strategies. They did the same thing over and over and did it well. They were seeded 1st at the Nationals for almost a whole day (I don’t pay that much attention to those screens). They put up a good fight and are also a very durable robot.
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This place tied 126 with 173. Gael Force showed the FIRST world once again what that white-sticky conveyor material was for. Last year, not only did they pull off perfect scores repeatedly but in my mind, had close to the number one spot for best bot. This team has great strategy and they are very strong and have a clean-cut strategy. They took home the finalist spot from the National Competition. That and, they are the team that is sprouting such geniuses- one who needs no intorduction, Colleen Shaver. The engineers and teachers on this team are doing alot of things right. 173- Forgive me if I am wrong, but they don’t have a webpage so I cannot find out their full info- I am guessing. But you all know who I mean when I say RAGE. (173-UTC/Research & East Hartford High School & Rockville High School???)
They were teamed with the Aztechs (awesome team also, I might add) and the Huskies (a very personal favorite, both team and robot) and they took one of the top places. My whole team experienced ‘swolen-jaw’ syndrome after watching this team play. Our mouths literally dropped open!
They successfully had awesome strategy and jumped… literally jumped! the ramp to get where they needed to go. While their partner would go try to dominate the black ball opposite them, RAGE would fly over the ramp, land with a loud ‘thud’ and keep going until that black ball was theirs. Such speed have I not witness before matched with such simple strategy. It just couldn’t hold up to the likes of CHAOS. -
This place tied with Heat Wave- CHAOS won the draw (mostly because I cannot put what HeatWave does in to words, I might have a description put together in a few days or so). Speaking of CHAOS, (131 Osram Sylvania/ Fleet & Manchester CentralHigh School)they are one good little robot. Not only because they did great at regionals and were the finalists at the National Competition, but they were sturdy and had a unique, simple strategy. Not many robots can be called ‘suckers’ as this robot was. And it isn’t even a bad thing! They could control both black balls- and didn’t even need the speed to get them from the other side. They can first load up their goal as much as possible, and then UNLOAD the opposition’s goal as much as possible. They do it in a clean, timely manner with almost no mistakes. Very few people could pull the ‘stealing’ tactic off correctly.
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team 67- The HOT Team from Huron Valley Schools sponsored by GM-Milford \Proving Grounds.
Ok, there doesn’t really need to be an explination for this one, but there will be. My team had a joke about a ‘30 inch sprocket’. We do not know the actual size of the key compontent of their robot, but we all admired it and it was one of my favorites. You couldn’t knock this team over and expect them to stay there. You couldn’t try to move them over on or even off the bar in your wildest dreams. Their strategy wasn’t exactly simple, but they hit the areas they knew they could win with. It’s unique design and function amazed many people. But let’s talk about the inner workking of the bot. They used a double-conveyor system to lift up one ball at a time into each of the two-sides of their scoring mechanism. You could clearly see how many balls they were going to get into their goal before they would come and fill up your goal as in the spirit of ‘co-opertition’. They could also keep anyone off the ramp and push almost anything around. But, one flaw- they could not squeeze on the bar if other bots were already up there. But it’s ok, they made up for it by sticking on the ramp after the game was done. -
There was team, unlike any other team. One we fondly refer to as ‘One of my favorite teams… BOMB SQUAD.’ (Baxter Healthcare and Mountain Home H.S. of Mountain Home, Arkansas). They need to introduction. One of the first teams I have seen who did, what kids on my team call, ‘The turret thing’. They didn’t go about the turret in the same way that we did- but rather, the turret on their robot was a 5th wheel. It surprised me very much when my scouting reports came back saying ‘3 to 5 wheel drive’. The fifth wheel could spin them around so they could fit themselves into any situation they needed to. They could also steal from the goal 9even though it took some time) but as always- 2 minute warning fought well, scored high, and got fought over at the nationals. We are all in envy, team 16.
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WildStang (Team 111- Wheeling / Rolling Meadows High School and Motorola) successfully scared the bejezus out of me this year. They had a well-engineered robot that performed a simple task (AND PERFORMED IT WAY ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY). You could be standing behind a crowd of people with tye-dyed shirts on and all you could see was the packed trough and you would know… It is team 111 out dominating the game. Need I say more?
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Chief Delphi and WildStang are what I would most likely call the ‘Twin’ robots. Both robots produced, from what I had seen, the most-overflowing troughs in the game. The only reason another team could have had a packed trough it was because neither of the other teams could get any of the balls. Chief Delphi was the #1 ball-stealer and they had a most unique design. Everyone knows about the ‘swerve’, or what some people also call the ‘swivel’, and that is a key component to CD5’s fast and able scoring ability. It also can’t hurt the stealing process much
A stable, durable robot with multiple-strategies and a winning past. Way-to-go, Chief Delphi. -
255, 232 and 25-(NASA Ames Research Center & Foothill High School (San Jose, CA) NASA Ames Research Center/Napa Pipe & Vintage High School (Napa, CA)
Bristol-Meyers Squibb & North Brunswick Township High School (North Brunswick, NJ) What can I say, they took home those nice, shiny gold medals and that nice, big, heavy trophy. They put up a great fight against CHAOS and Gael Force- a fight almost not won. But they did a great job! NASA having so many teams of such high-quality, one of them was bound to win- and in this case, two! -
There is an explination for why I did not put a team here. I know in my heart the Juggernauts are not only #1 by team number, but also by ‘best bot’ and also by the all-around team factor. But this is because it is my team. In each of your hearts, your team is number one. You have reasons why your bot and your team are the best that no one else but your team can understand. Congratulate yourselves, for you are all winners who have not only the number one 'bot, but also the number one best team.
I’m trough, on to my last day of high-school
-Erin