So many great ball bots, I can’t name them all. My top 5, in no particular order: 469, 33, 45, 1241, 571. 469 gets props for making it so far, and their ability to get huge scores every time, as do 45 and 571. As far as sheer ball gathering capability goes, noone held a candle to 33… their ball mechanism was simply awesome. Finally, 1241 was the best catcher I saw, and gets extra points for doing it as a rookie. I expect good things out of them in the future.
A lot of great ones mentioned but also 1083, didn’t make nationals, but they were amasing, omni-drive with ball collector. And there human player was a sniper. In like 18 matches I saw… he missed like 3 balls total, it was a rare occasion when they wouldn’t get a full stationary goal.
I’d have to say that 33 is the best pure small ball gatherer, but I loved 45’s design, as well as 177 (who had a extremely strong drivetrain) and the hybrid bots- 303, 469, fot they could both suck up and cap with ease.
I just realized that ALL of the bots that I sawcaught the balls had trouble getting them out except for one- and I saw a lot, 93, 1403, etc- the one bot that could get every ball out every time was 177, the part of their bot that extended out to catch balls was very powerful and just crushed the balls back until the vacuum caught them.
yeah, 33 and 45 were cool, but could THEY pick up the 10 point balls from the tee and put them in the big goal with the robot? HMMM? no? granted its illegal, but it was still fun to do on the practice field. 
for those who’ve never seen us
besides, shooting the balls out fast only helps when they don’t bounce out (an annoying problem at times). it is pretty cool to see the robot dump a load of balls from mid-field though 
(i don’t have a movie, i’ll post one if i find one)
my personal favorite ballbot would have to be 45. A high capacity hopper and an amazing capping arm made minced meat of the competition (including us). If we do end up going to IRI this year, I wanna see another 571 + 45 match (the twins, as Joel Johnson would call them)
i am just wondering about the ways of small balls and how other teams held there small balls together. like our robot the balls raise up and down out the back part but did any other robot go in one side and out the other and if so can i see a pic of it? thanks
Our team used a hoop-ish system, where the balls are driven in by sand belts powered by a window motor, then locked into individual hoops. Each ball pushed the previous ball up and out into the next hoop. The balls were locked in by steel bands, each tightened by a cam. Balls were pushed out by running the system in reverse, gravity would push each hoop down into the belts. It worked out rather well in competition, even though we didn’t use it too much. Most of our strategies involved capping and hanging, neither of which worked as well as our ball sucker…
I’ll try to get some screen grabs of it’s use in competition.
303 is rockin. Not only can they tow the goal under the ball drop then can quickly take the multiplier off and place it on either goal. They can also hold 2 multiplier balls. They also can suck balls off the floor quickly.
illegal???
last i checked, the robots aren’t allowed to score small balls by themselves
I would have to say 33, 303 THE FRIDGE!, 45, and 175 were some of the best small ball manipulators i have seen. Also 571 was also very effective and picking up those small balls.
My vote has to go towards 469 or 33. I loved the strategy I saw 469 use in Chicago letting the balls not only fall into the goal, but into their robot instead. They had a quick pickup and a quick and reliable release. And if that’s not enough for you they were great with the multiplier as well. Amazingly they were overlooked in Chicago and didn’t go until the 8th pick. I feel bad that we were not able to work with them well enough to win the regional, they really deserved a win. It was great playing with them though and in my opinion they would receive the best ball pickup award.
You gotta love 303!!! THE FRIDGE really rocked it out… Same with 469…
Ahhhh, my bad, I thought you meant it was illegal to pick the 10 point balls off the tee. Since I never saw you guys with a 10 pt ball or heard anything on CD about you guys doing it I just assumed it was illegal. Thanks for clearing it up-
I totally agree, they really help our alliance together at nats. IT was awsome how they let the balls fall in both the bot and the goal, capped it, delivered the balls., and capped again…every time!
My favorite bot, without doubt 33. It is THE perfect bot and we were going crazy when 60 and 33 picked us as an alliance.
I already had made game plans as well, 33 knock off bonus ball during autonomous while 1241 catches their own balls from the ball chute as they drop during autonomous. THen 33 goes off to collect all the opponents balls leaving the opponent with less than 5 - 6 balls on the floor to score with. 1241 steals one of the multiplier balls while 33 goes off to hang. Now to me that would have been a perfect match during a qualification round!
Anyway, we are so grateful to team 60 and 33 for picking us as partners. You guys were the best teams in our division! We really enjoyed our rookie year and you can count on us being back next year for more excitement!
It is rarely seen that anything goes according to plan… haha it sounds good though… A LOT of points…
303 for gathering