I would like to conduct a survey to gauge the community’s opinion on the most effective single robot at any game in FIRST history. This can be determined by many statistics, such as OPR that year or performance at competitions. However, this is for a single robot, not an alliance. Here is my opinion:
254 The Cheesy Poofs 2014
This robot, named Barrage, was dazzling from the very beginning. From the release video showing its hot 3-ball auto, to its nearly flawless performance at every competition it attended, it never ceased to amaze. It won every one of their season events (Central Valley, Waterloo, Silicon Valley, and the Championships), all of them famous for being some of the stiffest competitions in the world. Its final OPR was calculated to be 132.22, which was the highest in the world at that point. With only 16 losses the entire year, the Poofs certainly built a dominant robot. Not to mention, they broke the CURIE CURSE…
After, say, 20 replies or so, I will put up a poll of the top 6 selections for others to vote on.
Excluding the two super-dominant 71 machines, you could argue for:
1114’s 2008 Robot
254’s 2014 Robot
469’s 2010 Robot
I think that’s really all I can think of for dominant robots in the modern age of FIRST.
I recall having a discussion with a friend about which robot was more impressive, 254 in 2014 or 1114 in 2008. We concluded that while both were phenomenal, the fact that 254 managed to not only dominate, but do so in Aerial Assist, an extremely hard game to dominate, given the nature of the game to rely on alliance partners and such.
I seem to have forgotten the unstoppable force that was Team Hammond in 01-02. It seems that this thread will soon be dominated by them. Therefore, I would probably declare 71 in 2002, closely followed by them in 2001 as the most effective, but I’d like to keep this going with some other robots. I love hearing about more robots to watch game footage of! Thank you all!
It may be appropriate to consider how effective it’s possible for a robot to be within a game. I think that’s the argument to be made for 254-2014, that it’s hard to imagine a robot that’s more effective. Maybe it was possible for 1114-2008 to lose, but they were incredibly effective.
As for 469-2010, there’s no robot from the past decade that changed the game as much as they did. When they stepped onto the field, they became the focal point of the match. That describes their impact better than “effectiveness,” because I don’t think they added colossally more value to their alliance than the other elite robots of the year (1114-67-2041 might have won against 294-67-177).
For those around in 2002 (or know the story) what happened to 71 at Western Michigan Regional? According the TBA, they were 6-5-2 and lost in the semifinals.
After seeing how they lost in other matches that year, my guess would be an fast opposing robot ramming into them at the start of the match to prevent goal control.
One of the teams (66 I think) figured out how to get Hammond turned sideways before they deployed their walker, and since they couldn’t turn, they couldn’t get realigned to win. But 71 fixed that for champs…
I’m going to go with the most effective robots from each of my years in FRC:
-254(2016) Instant aiming and near perfect shooting accuracy. Runner-ups: 5172 and 2481
-2826(2015) Their 28pt autonomous was nearly perfect, and a mechanical and programming marvel to pull off. They also scored the world high score at champs. Runner-ups: 1114, 148 and 254
-2481(2014) Not the Poofs!??! Yes, not the Poofs. This was Roboteers “breakout” robot. Having a fully independent swerve drive with a 270 degree intake, low center of gravity, excellent ball control and a consistent catapult made them a force on the field. They made shots while moving sideways. Runner-ups: 254 and 16
-2169(2013) They were a purpose built FCS that backed it up. King Tec had almost the highest release point possible for their Frisbee shooter and amazing shooting consistency. The only thing that could stop them was when they filled up the high goal. 44 Frisbees in the goal in Colorado finals 1-2.
-1717(2012) I thought this robot was fake the first time I saw it driving and shooting. Runner-ups: 67, 341, 2056 and 2826
-1114(2011) Every component on Simbot Steve is off the charts good, but Simbotics defining advantage was their quick, clean and consistent release of tubes. World high score at Waterloo. Runner-ups: 111, 254, 33 and 987
2169 from 2013 is one of my favorite case studies in good strategic analysis. Brilliant design and executed to perfection, although I wouldn’t define it as . 2014 you really can’t argue for anyone but 254 or maybe 469, although I’m sure 2014 was a breakout year for 2481, it wasn’t a “dominant machine” in the way that the previously mentioned teams were.
Interestingly, by the time champs rolled around, 1425 was actually better than 2169 (I’m looking at OPR here, not at how far each team went, since 2169’s alliance did beat 1425’s).
of course, 118 beat out both of them on the OPR scale, so what does that tell you about Feeder shooter vs cycling :deadhorse:
I’d argue for 469 or 987 in 2013, though I think the beauty of that game was that it was literally impossible to be a complete powerhouse (my team tried to do everything. we failed miserably )
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