Top 5 List - Number 1

Happy New Year Everyone!

Now for the number 1 robot / team of 2008...





#1

The 2008 world champions - Team 1114 Simbotics From Ontario Canada. Team 1114 designed an extremely elegant and effective robot. Their method for picking up the Track Ball was well designed as was their shooter. Every match (that I saw) they outscored everyone on the field. I watched via Internet stream as they competed in Chicago, and unfortunately, that was the only time I was able to see this team.

Best of luck to Team 1114 in 2009!

Top 5 List - Number 2

Number 2 on the list was a rookie team in 2008...


#2


Team 2337 - EngiNERDS I've never felt the pressure of being on a rookie team before, and I can imagine that trying to get a new team off the ground is a tough job. Heck, it's a tough job just to design, build and program a robot in 6 weeks, even when the team has been doing it for years.

So, when I saw Team 2337 roll out their rookie robot, I was stunned. It was a beautiful machine that used an elegant "booter" to kick the Track Ball over the Overpass. They traveled across the state and competed in the West Michigan Regional; I hope they make the trip again in 2009. I'm anxious to see what you guys come up with this year.

Good luck!

Top 5 List - Number 3

Time for #3 of my top 5 FIRST Robotics Competition teams/robots for 2008.



#3

A local (West Michigan) team comes in at number three. Team 141 - Wobot is from West Ottawa High School. This team really turned my head this year. Their chassis design and steering allowed them to maneuver incredibly well around the track. They could turn laps as fast or faster than most of the simple robots that focused only on running laps.

On top of an extremely quick robot, they built a very elegant shooting mechanism using surgical tubing. Their team was able to quickly grasp a Track Ball and secure it until they approached their Overpass. As they approached the Overpass they easily were able to hurdle the ball every time. They came up with a very impressive design, executed their plan and the drive team was able to control their machine easily. Excellent work Wobots!

Best of luck to your team in 2009!

Top 5 List - Number 4

If you are a new reader, I am counting down my Top 5 list.
Read the earlier post for more details.

#4

Number 4 on the list is Team 71 - The Beast, from Hammond Indiana. Team 71 has always impressed me and they've always had a well engineered machine. This year their design was very innovative with a nice emphasis on Track Ball retrieval. From my perspective their team worked well together and couple that with an excellently designed machine, Team 71 was a powerful team in 2008.

Team 71, Good luck in 2009!

Roger's 2008 FRC Top Ten (wait... 1,2,3... ) Top Five List

For some reason I've always liked the end of the year top whatever lists. Sometimes its the top 100, other times its the top 10...

Well, just the other day I started thinking about making my own top 10 list. I wanted to create a list of FIRST Robotics Competition teams and/or robots that stuck out in my mind over the last year. PLEASE keep in mind that my list is based entirely on what I saw at either a regional or from an Internet stream. Here's what I saw in 2008. I watched some of the live feed from the mid-west regional. I attended the regional in Milwaukee and West Michigan and watched some of the stream on NASA TV of the Championship. I also attended the West Michigan Regional Invitational, which was an off-season event held in October. All in all, I only saw a very small fraction of the teams compete, and still, when I watched all these events I wasn't keeping a score card in preparation for this blog. This list is simply the teams that really REALLY stuck out in my mind this year.

So I started thinking back at the teams and robots that I really admired. I wanted to make a top ten list and I wrote down 5 teams immediately. I started trying to think of other teams to round out the list and really drew a blank. There were other teams that I could remember, but only because I've been familiar with them over the past couple of years. So with that in mind, here is my top 5 list of FRC teams for 2008.

#5

910 - Foley Freeze

From Bishop Foley Catholic High School in Madison Heights Michigan.

I was familiar with this team from the 2007 season and really didn't get to see their stuff until the West Michigan Regional Invitational. It did help that our team was partnered with 910 in the finals. As an alliance, we ended up with being runners-up, but their robot really impressed me. I liked their design, their team was confident about their capabilities and I respect that a lot.

I'm looking forward to seeing Foley Freeze in 2009. Good luck to your team!