Driver Tips

[LightWaves1636]

So for the people who have already competed, think you guys got any tips to give to the people who haven't competed yet?

[Rich Ross]

Just win. I've seen tons of drive teams (and i've been on a few as well). and the thing that i've learned is this. Just win. No matter what happens out there, you have to stay calm, listen to the coach, and look for openings in the D while you're playing your offense. If you're on D, watch out and make suer that you arent only defending the robot that is about to score, try to make it so you'll be ready for the one 15 feet away thats picking up a ringer.

as my drive team's slogan (#2) used to say:
JUST WIN, BABY!

[Pavan Dave]

Not a driver but I can suggest looking at semifinal and final round matches and put yourself in the shoes of every robot (yes, watch each match 6 times) and look for openings etc, that the driver did not see. It will give you a more open mind when you are on field and you should remember many of these "slips" of the D when you are behind the station.

[Dominicano0519]

as a coach/driver for 381

we have one suggestion

(in the words of the head driver Keith)

!!!DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT!!!

no Im serious just drive, don't ram, but don be scared to swap some paint( or bumper in this case)

[s_forbes]

After seeing the first couple of regionals, I think people are going about this defense thing completely wrong. Most of the matches I see, the defender tries to harrass the scorer the entire time, which often gives the scorer a chance to fake them out and get around the defender. Not only is this obnoxious, it doesn't work very well!

Team 60 in the Arizona regional played the most effective defense I had seen yet, and their robot has 6 skinny drive wheels and weighs only 84 pounds. All they had to do was sit in front of the rack and take up space, and it worked beautifully.

[ballgame21]

When robots that are playing D back off and then come for U, U can throw a spin move to get around them. Most important, stay calm and communicate with your coach and alliance partners.:cool:

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

Play to your strengths. If you are on defense and are faster but weaker than who you are defending, get in front of them wherever they are going. If you're slower but stronger, push them. If you're stronger and faster, see if there is another robot you can simulaneously defend. If you're slower and weaker, ask for your alliance partners' help. If you're on offense, do the same things only backwards.

Also, NEVER play defense with your arm out. It's an easy way to get a yellow flag. Every match is winnable so do not ever give up. Have the coach give you time updates so you can keep your eyes on the robot. Once the human player is done throwing tubes, have him or her be a second coach for you. Avoid penalties before, during, and after the match. Control your excitement so that you do not cross the driver line, play defense too aggressively, run out of your alliance station too early, or go on the field before the referee gives the signal.

Finally, when you receive a penalty or yellow flag or a ruling you feel is incorrect, don't go yelling at the referees, they know what they're doing. Instead, politely ask what you did wrong until you fully understand so that you will not make the same mistake again.

Good luck and I hope these tips help :)

[Commanchetruck]

As a driver be careful driving around the rack, especially on the sides. A little miscalculation and the rack will reach out and grap your robot. This ends up in either a time consuming entanglement or a tip over. If you are on defence defending the rack watch out when the offence is scoring. In the semi finals a robot on our team flipped over when they had a ringer on the rack but still attached to their arm and another robot tried to push them away. Be aware of your center of gravity when reaching for the top ringers if you can. If you grab a tube and pop it it's probably easiest just to grab another, they are extremely hard to score when popped from what ive seen.

[Greg Marra]

Have a bottle of water if you're going into elimination matches.

You'll want it.

[b-rant]

Have a bottle of water if you're going into elimination matches.

You'll want it.

AMEN! and everybody wonders why i wear my backpack on the field...It's my stash

[triggerhappy336]

Don't be twitchy, be smooth, calm and collected. Do your best, but don't flip out if something breaks or doesn't go as planned. Your team will support you no matter what.

Be a part of the pre-match strat meetings. It will really help out on the field if you have a really good fundamental understanding of the strat instead of just following coaches orders. From my and my co-driver's huge involvement in the strat meetings, we really didn't need our coach for a whole lot, just when something went horribly wrong he was there to tell us what we needed to do and also keep on eye on the clock.

[Dave McLaughlin]

Dont be afraid to samsh and bash a little... if youve got bumpers use them, at the PNW regional our team collided with another robot so hard it bent in there front bumper and we still didnt get called... Drive hard but drive cool... and watch the rack, when your not looking itll reach out and grab you!

Dave McLaughlin, Team 1983 Driver

[1902_Battery_SGT]

as my coach has said to me on many a time, don't be afraid to break something.
you can't reverse time if you lose a match but you can almost always replace or fix a broken part.

[JBotAlan]

Well, I don't have any tips specific to this year, but I have a few generic tips coming from a programmer:

If you see any strange lights light up on the controller, hit "ROBOT RESET".

If you find that you can't control the 'bot anymore, hit "ROBOT RESET".

If the 'bot is drifting away, hit "ROBOT RESET" and if that didn't fix it, check the calibration of the joysticks (or have your programmer do it for you:) ) and then put duct tape over them so they don't get bumped.

Power-cycle the 'bot when you put it on the field (unplug the battery, make sure the robot controller turns off, then plug the battery back in). This will make sure auton actually executes.

And if you see a "Code Error" light turn on, hit "ROBOT RESET" and let the programmer know.

Don't shake the joysticks violently when you lose control of the 'bot. Do a quick check of your lights and calmly let your programmer know what happened.

And most of all, have fun!

JBot

[geeknerd99]

When I drive, I enter this sort of trance-like state where everything just kind of blurs together. You know, almost to the point where I'm driving by smell and taste. But that doesn't help other drivers very much.:rolleyes:

When we were just speeding about the field, my coach and operator acted as another two sets of eyes and ears. More specifically, my operator kept an eye out around the robot and our coach kept an eye out on the field. When paired with mecanum drive, we were able to slip in and out of holes in the defense (or just the mess of the field) with ease.

Also, each person should keep an eye out for their positions. I paid attention to things like the drivetrain working properly and which way the robot was pointed (it's pretty hard to tell which way is "forwards", especially after our flag fell off.... again). My operator kept track of whether the arm was tucked in (for lowering the ramp or defending), arm extension, etc. Our coach kept track of the field, noting where we'd been, where we are, and where we need to go.

On a tangent, I just realized that our coach's mentality is exactly like figuring out fingerings for piano. You need to know where your hand was, where it needs to be, and where it's going afterwards.

Above all, you need to remain cool. I worked with one team at VCU whose driver had the shakes so badly while trying to rewire their robot in the queue that I had to tell him to calm down and step away while I brought in the electronics guru on my drive team to finish the job. You need to not only remain cool on field, but also off the field, and hey, why not, in life too. Don't fret about bad matches and such. Sometimes, @#$! happens. Instead, quickly get necessary repairs and modifications done and start prepping for the next match. We started off Friday at VCU by losing 3 in a row. As disappointed as I was, I found that I actually didn't even have time to fret over losing (especially when it wasn't our fault each match).

This post is getting kind of long-winded and everybody drives differently, so I think the best way to sum things up is this:

"Feel, don't think. Trust your instincts." (And your drive team and your alliance).

[Dan Petrovic]

Take it easy.

If you find that you are running the robot where you don't want it to be, slow it down a bit. There's no use in gunning it at full power when you can't do what you want with it.

[meatmanek]

Our coach kept track of the field, noting where we'd been, where we are, and where we need to go.

You wrote a PID control loop for your coach? Whoa.

[Duke_of_Hazard]

I can offer a bit of advice:

1- If defending, present the side of your robot perpendicular to your wheels (you waste no power and they waste plenty), and when they try to get around drive forward and backward. Being able to outguess and out-play other base drivers is necessary in all the FIRST games and certainly this one.

2- At all times, dont view the controls as buttons, but as a sharpshooter would view the trigger. Rough handling only makes you spastic, and not smooth. Feather those sticks!

3- Like in motorsports, the key to driving many of these robots is maintaining the "center of balance". people that have driven cars at the limits of tire adhesion know of this, and keeping your robot's weight balanced at the proper point will get you turning faster, and that can help you juke & jive.

4- If for some reason the battery in your robot is low, the worst you can do is attack the sticks. slowly bring them to power and the robot will move.

5- STAY CALM, DON'T PANIC

More specific to this game -

1- in most fairly competitive matches, you will have approx 1.5-3 seconds to drive up and score a tube, so act quickly and decisively.

2- Someone mentioned before, tagging someone the entire match is fairly wasteful, in most, if not all cases. stay between the scoring robot and the rack, and dont give him a leverage point to spin you around and overtake you.

3- With all the activity nearby the rack, traffic-running is key. It is often faster to go around a robot then try to plow through him. Plus, many operators are so concentrated on what they are doing they dont even notice, as long as you dont start smashing into them!

I didnt want to make this post enormous, sorry, but remember to remind yourselves....this IS supposed to be fun, so have at it!

[Grant Cox]

Apologies in advance for this long post, writing about something I love is going to take a while :p

The biggest, most important thing is to RELAX. My operator and I spend the 30 seconds or so right before the match (waiting for auton to start) dancing to the music behind the player station wall; I've noticed that we're the only ones out there doing it, but it's a fun way to loosen up and realize that you're just out there to have fun.

Listen to your coach, even if it goes against your own best judgment. Paul made a call or two that, at the time, were not what I would have chosen if I had been alone. However, watching the videos later, I saw that it was strategically the best thing to do (i.e. switching to scoring on the middle row randomly in the middle of a match).

There is really no time to think; 2 minutes goes by a heck of a lot faster than you may realize. If you see an opening or a strategical groove to drive, just freaking do it. There is no time at all to have a self-debate over the pros and cons of an action. This game [due to, IMO, the effectively small playing field] is based on split second, make-or-break decisions. If you spend too much time thinking about what to do, before you know it the other team is going to be on you or scoring tubes.

On a related note, I read a quote in an earlier one of these threads that I really liked. "You can always fix a robot; you can never replay a match." During the build season, I was primarily on the mechanical build team, so I had a lot of effort and sweat put into that robot. Before my first match, I was so scared to touch other robots, I figured I would be a horrible defensive player. However, in the heat of the match, I just put those thoughts out of my mind and focused on the task at hand (plus the fact that I couldn't really think about what I was doing, again with the whole time and pressure thing).

Be on good terms with your operator (or vice versa). This may seem obvious, but just trust me. Don't let personal issues with them affect you during the matches; focus only on your task at hand (drive to tube, drive to rack, place tube, drive back. rinse, repeat). Don't worry about the people in the stands, don't worry about your ex girlfriend back home, don't worry about the math test you're missing.

Have fun with it. I see some people trying to act like they're professional robot drivers out there or something, it's a much better experience if you just rock out with it. For my first regional, I spiked up my hair and got all the swag I could find for 'good luck' (buttons, necklaces, armbands, whatever lol) and had a ball with it. Dance before matches, heck dance during matches if you can get the extra thought process (I think I bobbed my head a couple times when we were doing well).

Again, above all, RELAXX. If you feel yourself getting twitchy and jumpy, just take a second and breathe. Let up on the joysticks/gamepad a little; driving it a second slower and making the tube cleanly is a heckuva lot better than driving it 2 seconds faster, dropping the tube, hitting another robot, and losing your chance altogether.


Wow.. that was really long. Uhh.. have fun driving, and good luck :D

[Josh Fox]

I'd like to thank posters on behalf of myself and new drivers everywhere. :) there great advice. our 1st competition's in 3 days and I'm pretty excited/anxious

[Grant Cox]

No problem Foxy! You guys are going to Detroit, right? Look me up, I'll be there on Friday/Saturday most likely with the spikes :cool:

[Josh Fox]

hopefully see you then and good luck. we can hope for a 27+217 alliance:D

[James1902]

This is my first year driving to but our first comp was thursday so here are some observations from that...
-In the wonderful words of Douglas Adams DON'T PANIC!!! one of the worst things you can do is freak out.
-Also on the flip side of that, don't get over exited. If you start twitching you don't think right, so take a few deep breaths and keep your head level.(this is one of my biggest problems so don't feel bad if it happens to you.)
-pay attetion to your own robot. Your coach is there to watch the rest of the field, that's not your job.
-But most importalty enjoy it. This is one of the coolest things i've done in FIRST yet so relax and take it in. You only get to do this as a student so savor it while you can!!

[meatmanek]

When you're testing code at the last minute waiting in the queuing lines, and you unplug your drivetrain so it won't kill anyone, don't forget to plug it back in. *Both sides*

Not that we've done anything silly like that...

Seriously, though, while you're clearing your head before the match, run through a quick check of your robot. Drivetrain plugged in? Arm plugged in? Battery plugged in, secured, and legal? Pneumatics charged?

The last thing you want to happen is to go out and realize that you forgot to plug something in.

[theycallhimtom]

First of all know when to drive crazy and when to drive conservative. As a coach in matches where getting on the ramp will make us win I try to get back with 30-45 seconds left. With that much time don't go crazy and mess up going on the ramp. Just slow down and take your time, have your coach tell you how much time left. If there are 3 seconds left gun it up the ramp, if there are 20 seconds take your time.

In general for placing rings it is fast movement in between fine movement. When you are moving from the rack to a ring go fast, but once there you have to slow down and relax. In your first match you will probably be way to excited and try to do everything quickly, just slow down and get the rings on conservatively. By the second match you should be able to get back to regular speed.

Listen to your coach. Hopefully they have studied the rules and strategy a lot and know every obscure strategy that just might come up once or twice. Do not second guess your coach until after the match.

But the big thing is just to have fun and don't get too focused on winning. If the ref doesn't call a penalty that you saw its no big deal. If the referee messed up in your favor, go and back up the other alliance when they are arguing their case.

[Josh Fox]

While watching web casts and other competitions, I've seen robots with omni/crab/swerve drive, and I was wondering what it's like to drive one of those:confused:

[Travis Hoffman]

So for the people who have already competed, think you guys got any tips to give to the people who haven't competed yet?

STAY NEAR THE RACK WHEN PLAYING DEFENSE!

Especially when defending two cappers.

Minimize your movement - stay between the cappers and the rack. Don't chase them to where they pick up ringers - their partners can sneak around you.

Face your opposition - push them away. Don't let them reach over you.

Don't wait too long to get back and deploy ramps.

[James1902]

While watching web casts and other competitions, I've seen robots with omni/crab/swerve drive, and I was wondering what it's like to drive one of those:confused:

My rookie year on 1083 we had an omni drive. I wasn't the driver but I drove it for fun a cople of times. It drove alot like a video game, one stick controled rotation and the other controlled the four (forward, back, left, right) directions and all those in between, alot like Halo crosshair control if that makes any sense

[viking1902]

While watching web casts and other competitions, I've seen robots with omni/crab/swerve drive, and I was wondering what it's like to drive one of those:confused:

I was the base driver for 1083 the two years that we had holonomic drive. It was really, really fun! There are so many cool moves that you can make with a holonomic robot that you can't make with a typical tank drive bot. To answer your question, driving an omni bot is like driving a hockey puck on ice, you slide everywhere. When driving an omni bot you can just forget about pushing anyone, you just have to out maneuver them.

As for driving in this year's game, I think one of the keys is staying calm. I have seen some matches (and regionals) that could have been won if the drivers would have just kept their cool and took some time to line a ringer up and cap it.

[Grant Cox]

STAY NEAR THE RACK WHEN PLAYING DEFENSE!
On that note, STAY AWAY FROM THE RACK WHEN PLAYING OFFENSE!! Unless your arm/turret/shuttle/human hand/whatever requires you to get near it, getting near those spiders is bad news. We discovered oh so many times during practice how easy it is to get caught up in there and mess up your grabber or arm. If you have the capability to reach up and over, USE IT.

[R.Greene]

Have a bottle of water if you're going into elimination matches.

You'll want it.


100% You want all the water you can get.

I try to think it steps, and not look at the big picture:
1.Get to the next ringer
2.Pick it up
3.Score it

And repeat
If you drop a ringer, don't sweat it and just go to the next one.
And have fun.

[R.Greene]

While watching web casts and other competitions, I've seen robots with omni/crab/swerve drive, and I was wondering what it's like to drive one of those:confused:

ITS AWSOME
It can be a bit of a problem if your robot gets turned, but press forwards=forwards
pull back=backwards
pull right=right
pull left=left
It is very fun to drive around in, and being able to drive circles areound people is great. 8D

[rachal]

While watching web casts and other competitions, I've seen robots with omni/crab/swerve drive, and I was wondering what it's like to drive one of those:confused:

We had mecanum this year and it's great. While practice driving it at school, I kept instinctively thinking I was going to bump into chairs and things in the hallway because I couldn't swerve fast enough, but I could pull sideways instantaneously. :cool:

[1359th Scalawag]

Some tips for coaches: When I first started, I could scream and scream at the drivers telling them what to do and they couldn't hear me at all. They just went into that gaming state where nothing else exists. After that match, they were kind of mad at me because I "didn't say anything."
Our coach for last year told me a really great tip.

GET IN FRONT OF YOUR DRIVERS. Stand beside them and when you have orders, get your hands out in front of them. Point at where they're supposed to go. This will usually break them from thier zoned-out state and the orders will get through.

Also, i've seen many teams doing this before, they get into a match and run around aimlessly. If you dont have anything to do, at least defend.

[burkechrs1]

The best advice I can give is to have confidence in yourself. once you lose confidence in yourself you start second guessing everything, and second guessing wastes time and usually causes you to make the wrog decision. So just stay confident. If you make a bad decision shrug it off and forget about it. Just get back out there and do what you know how to do, DRIVE. And don't forget to have fun =D

[Michael Corsetto]

When playing offense, score on the rack where you'r opponents are not defending. If you are working on a row in the middle, and a defender is harassing your teamate who is trying to score on the right side of the field, don't try to score two columns over in the middle of your side of the field where the defender could easily change strategies and come after you. Buy yourself enough time by scoring farther away from the defender, and then when you get another ringer and go back to the rack, chances are that defender won't be in the same spot he was 10 seconds ago and you might be able to score where you originally intended to. Rather than focusing on scoring at one particular point each time, just try to keep a constant flow of pick up, score, pick up, score going. As long as you keep to a rough gameplan, such as scoring on only the middle, you can fill in the gaps when your opponents go back to their side of the field to ramp.

Mike C.

[kawelch]

When playing offense, score on the rack where you'r opponents are not defending. If you are working on a row in the middle, and a defender is harassing your teamate who is trying to score on the right side of the field, don't try to score two columns over in the middle of your side of the field where the defender could easily change strategies and come after you. Buy yourself enough time by scoring farther away from the defender, and then when you get another ringer and go back to the rack, chances are that defender won't be in the same spot he was 10 seconds ago and you might be able to score where you originally intended to. Rather than focusing on scoring at one particular point each time, just try to keep a constant flow of pick up, score, pick up, score going. As long as you keep to a rough gameplan, such as scoring on only the middle, you can fill in the gaps when your opponents go back to their side of the field to ramp.

Mike C.

I learned this as doing the "wrong" thing correctly now is better than doing the "right" thing poorly later.

that is gaming stratagy not life stratagy...:)

[gurellia53]

Do this against defense (watch Robot Casserole #1736 on the red alliance)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NWdJc3sJHY

[geeknerd99]

Do this against defense (watch Robot Casserole #1736 on the red alliance)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NWdJc3sJHY

As sweet as that is, if you're gonna try to pull that against a skilled mecanum driver, you're going nowhere, fast.

How do I know? Because I stopped someone from trying to spin around our robot.

Which brings me to another point. We have mecanum drive, so we're no match for say, a tank-bot in terms of traction, but we (quite literally) drive circles around them. Whenever we played against a mecanum bot (the Henrico triad comes to mind), we went against them, and well, defended them aggressively. Think sumo wrestling, not cage fighting. Stay in contact with them, and use your omni-directional drive to keep changing which direction they're facing. You don't have to shove them off the field, you just have to change the direction they're pointing enough to irritate the other driver.

[Grant Cox]

You don't have to shove them off the field, you just have to change the direction they're pointing enough to irritate the other driver.
On the flip side, if you're the one that's being nudged out of the way, feel free to be flexible. With regards to this year's game, your coach might be screaming for 4-high, but if you're being pushed, be ready to switch strategies and go for 3 or 5. In a couple of our matches, the defending team became so obsessed with us not getting a certain one that they actually pushed our tube practically onto a different spider leg.

Oh and I definitely want to agree with the water bottle comment... great way to cool down, it relieves stress for some reason.

[geeknerd99]

Just like there are plenty of skateboarding and mountain biking (and every other extreme sport) videos out there, someone out there needs to make a compilation of sweet moves pulled off on the FIRST fields and set it to some good music.

Although, something tells me that this has been done before.

I need to try ths water bottle idea. I was thinking about bringing my Camelbak to VCU, and then I realized that water and electronics don't mix. That, and the security guards at the Siegel Center are..... well, to put it nicely, EXTREMELY strict about outside food and drink. Thank God for backpacks with extraneous pockets, since I didn't eat lunch out of the pits at all at VCU.

[Travis Hoffman]

Driver Tip #1 - Don't Do This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjHMb55EXmY)!

[Chevymann89]

I have been the driver for Frog Force, 503, for two years now. One of the most important things to do before you set a foot on the playing field is to get a strategy together with our other parts. See what your strengths and weaknesses are as a whole, and then figure out who you are up against, come up with a game plan that all of the drivers and coaches know, so there shouldn't be any confusion on the field. This helps the drivers, me, know what I have to do and what my team mates are doing.

Also another important, very important piece, is use all the time that you have, do not rush, take your time, right at the end. Like driving up ramps, I would take the few extra seconds to line the robot up, and then go balls out up the ramp knowing that I am centered and wouldn’t fall off. A lot of matches that I watched the robots tipped over with 4-5 seconds still left in the game because they thought they had no time.
MOSTLY HAVE A TON FUN and DRINK TONS OF WATER
Good Luck