Inspirational Teams

VEX V5 General Discussion General Forum
1

This is based on an idea from another thread. Rather than making it complicated, though, I wanted to suggest a thread containing posts that just contain this information:

I/we/our team/our school thinks team XYZ is inspirational because .

I’ll start:

Exothermic Robotics thinks Team TBD, #721 from Gladstone Secondary is inspirational because they are the most creative single team in the Pacific Northwest over the last few years. They have always used unique approaches and engineering, and have won far more than their share of awards and tournaments. They are one of the best teams in VEX that has NOT yet won a World Championship. We try to be like them.

2

Green Egg Robotics (44) is very inspirational. They always come up with very creative designs and are one of the nicest Vex teams i have ever met. They are very good when it comes to taking newer teams under their wing and showing them the ropes it it rubs off on everybody they are around. Their designs often inspire other teams to make something similar or to think about other ways of completing a task.

~DK

3

Not exactly what you’re looking for, but…

My vex team for the IRI scrimmage was heavily inspired by the Exothermic Robotics Round Up robot drivetrains. The idea of overgearing wheels to reach speeds much faster than normal by building a very lightweight robot heavily contributed to our success at the event.

VRC 1114 and 1640 are inspirational for their simple and effective robots as well as their willingness to lend out parts without a second thought.

I don’t know this team’s current number, but a team that went by the name Syntax Error back in 2007 first demonstrated to me the concept of using the field boundary as a tool to help the robot complete an objective, and their general dominance in a match was awe inspiring to me at the time. They built a platform on top of their robot to hold soccer balls, and when they lifted this platform vertically, the goal was used as a wall for the balls until the platform elevated higher than the edge of the goal, allowing the balls to freely roll into the goal. Using gravity to do what other teams used motors to do was quite clever.

4

I’m going to do a number of individuals since they post here, where appropriate the underlying team is included. My entries are the senior people from the site, they have been here since the early days.

ManicMechanic: She rocks. She put together the first important sets of VEX documentations on how to run teams and how to build robots. Her guide on the “Clueless Coach” is a staple in our adult mentor training. She is the foundation of my share design campaign, her publication of early designs made it possible for our teams to be competitive. If Rick limits us to one vote, she will be it. Without her early leadership examples I don’t think that I would be here.

Quazar: He has extended the VEX 0.5 system into the realm of other robotics competitions. His electronics and code are jewel pieces of VEX robotics. His posts has allowed me to extend using VEX into prototyping in FRC. If you are new here go back and read his posts there is a lot of inspiration there.

smartkid: I’m an omnibot junkie and Cody has presented more about omnibots from physics to practical design and build techniques than anyone else. Last years “drive pod” was a thing of beauty and I have a stack of them here to include in robots that I build. I think that his modular approach to drives may set a new standard for robot construction.

Rick TYler: Exothermic Robotics is one of the few super teams (more than 8 robots) out there. They are the benchmark team that I try to follow with my 10 teams. Management and coordination of 50 roboteers is no mean feat. To have them crank out winning robots beating the tough US West Coast teams is amazing. The designs and scores they post prove that they are a team worth following.

Green Egg Robotics (44): This team rocks. I’ve seen them and their robots a number of years. Their design skills coupled with their build skills make them a world class team. They are as good off the field as on, I’ve seen them field question after question about their robot without loosing enthusiasm about what they are doing. If I had to give a mentor award to a team it would go to these guys.

The Jones (677): Liam and Rhys scares me. Some day someone is going to stick them in a fully functional machine shop that can build their ideas and the world is going to tilt. For the last few years these kids have been in our back yard earning award after award. If I had to put up a team against VEX’s Robowrangler interns it would be these guys. Oh, just a reminder that the youngest one is a 9th grader, he’s going to be around for a while.

5

One of the teams that I find great is team 2921, Free Range Robotics. They are personally one of my role model teams, as a programmer I absolutely adored them after I watched them win the world champion programming skills in Elevation, which was my first year competing in VEX. I have become a big fan of many New Zealand teams but Free Range has to be my favorite. Since I am such a big fan of them of course I was cheering for them all the way at the world championship this year, and I thought that it was a very well deserved win for them. Being homeschooled just as they are (Although our whole team is not.) is another reason I see them as a role model, just as team 44, Green Egg Robotics is as well, another team I look up to for their unique ideas as well as their friendly and helpful nature.

-Jordan

1 Like
6

Great topic Rick, as always.

There’s so many inspirational teams, but I’ll mention two in particular.

The team that I connected best with and enjoyed was 2901, Rangitoto. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for Round Up.

Also, KTOR. KTOR is led by one of my previous FIRST mentors who is probably purposely staying in college just to compete. :slight_smile: I knew they would impress me.

Foster, that was really humbling all around.
_Cody

7

We’ve been around for a long time, so there have been many teams that have inspired us in various and sundry ways:

Early Inspiration
Art Dutra of GUS paved the way for us in this department by posting “wow” designs when everyone else was just getting started, while Jim Bock (a local non-competition hobbyist) patiently led us through the basics.
Occam’s Engineers (FVC 3053) was an amazing team which captained the winning alliance and won the Inspire award in 2007. We were privileged to compete against them in a 1 vs. 1 match and not be totally obliterated by them (let’s hear it for RP/SP!)

Gracious Hosts
Teams 833 of Turlock and 4033 of Ceres put on wonderful events with low/no fees and even free food. They made it possible for us to enter multiple teams on our meager budget, giving our rookies a chance to compete.

Rapid Risers
During their rookie seasons, we watched teams 1031 (Dreadnaught) and 9378 (Tracy) come from behind to surpass us. Gracious on and off the field, they pulled more than their share as alliance partners when our robots were not up to snuff.

Technical
Like everyone else, we’ve been repeatedly impressed by 44 (Green Eggs) with their elegant, unique designs. 254(Cheesy Poofs) in our back yard also never fail to amaze. While 254A gets the most press, we’ve seen some clever designs from some of the lesser-known teams, like 254Z, who were a pleasure to compete with.

Altruistic
At Worlds in 2009, our team “oohed and aahed” over 1899’s holonomic drive. One of the team members (edwardj?) graciously offered to let the team test drive the bot, without concern for whether we’d “mess up” their bot for upcoming matches.

When it really comes down to it, skill alone is not enough, and attitude is everything. The teams we remember most are the ones who treated kindly both when the chips were down and when they were up.

P.S. Foster, I’m honored by your acknowledgment, as you and your teams have gone way beyond us. As other teams have soared to greater heights, I guess our one enduring legacy is that we are living proof that there’s room for everyone; while not all teams will be “powerhouse teams”, everyone has something to bring to the table.

8

Team 817 (Sparticles) thinks team 44 (Green Egg Robotics) is inspirational because of their attitude and creative, effective robots. Anybody from New England who sees them on a regular basis can’t help but be very impressed by their consistency and attention to detail. They win every local tournament they enter, and are very gracious winners. They are always the first seed for choosing an alliance, and the way they get ranking points is amazing (In some matches they knock football onto their own side for ranking points, and they rarely win by more than ten points.). At the beginning of this year, our robots were steel and they let us hold their robot to see how light aluminum was.
When our team switched to vexnet and couldn’t figure out how to make it work when we were testing, we called them, and they quickly diagnosed the problem over the phone.
In the first competition of the year, they chose one of our robots as a third alliance partner, which at the time was not a good robot. After the selection process, they spent fifteen minutes working on the robot, and made it significantly better.

They inspired us to have an expanding chassis after the first competition. The whole car ride home, we talked about different ways that we could expand our chassis. The Green Eggs let everyone ask questions, and they are all answered. They work very well together and with all other teams.

9

I think that teams KTOR and 575 (the graduating group) are inspirational. KTOR because their very professional robots and members, having spent about half an hour explaining the details of their robot to some of the newer members on our team this year. Exothermics in general because of their complete selflessness towards our team, especially our rookie year, and specifically Haiku because they essentially gave us a blueprint of their robot a month or two before worlds, which led to our successful first year and enabled us to get enough team support to continue. Otherwise, VRC 1899 would no longer exist :slight_smile:

Thanks ManicMechanic for the mention. As stated we owe a lot to 575, we only made a few minor tweaks to their design, and had some good luck at the competition.

10

368- Team Kika Mana (McKinley High School)- Their one of the most active and dedicated teams in Hawaii. Their robot has always been proven to be amazing at every competition I’ve ever been to and they always manage to rank high. Their team is one of the largest public school teams in the islands and it really makes you smile to know that in that one school there are so many people who love the same things you love.

394- Highlands Intermediate Robotics (Highlands Intermediate School)- They are the only school in the middle school division in the state of Hawaii who has consistantly been to every single VEX Robotics World Championship since it was introduced to Hawaii (they’ve attended the '09, '10, and just qualified for the '11). They have excellent programmers, drivers and builders and they’re all either 7th or 8th grade! I’m not just saying all this because I was on that team for their first year, but because they truly are talented kids!

In my personal opinion, there is one school that has inspired me more than anything:
2443- Maui High School Robotics (Maui High School)- This team has gone to one FRC World Championship and one VRC Pan-Pacific. I’ve only ever met this team once- though I’ve talked to a few every not and then thanks to facebook. They aren’t the greatest (though they are decent) or fastest or strongest. So why do they inspire me so much? Because out of all the teams I’ve ever seen at a competition, they have shown the most heart. And I’m not talking about they go down to the field to dance when the Cupid Shuffle comes on. Like, they honestly care about the people who are at the competition and they try to make it fun for them. They’re like the closest thing Hawaii has to Puerto Rico. They reminded me that this competition isn’t always about winning or stressing out about taking notes on teams or driving well. They are the type of people that make you smile the moment you know that you’re allianced with them.

11

I continue to be inspired and amazed by what comes out of that basement in Arkansas. Every year, they produce new and exciting approaches to competing in the current year’s game.

But it’s not just about the robot, this team does so much more. The team building, community efforts, and their relentless approach to helping ALL teams succeed really sets them apart. I have tried to mold our team after their model.

Thank you team 16, the Bomb Squad.

btw, John Jr. will be a force to reckoned with for the next few years ( 5 more I think). I have seen him drive, and he will only get better…