Drive Team Rules
 

Perhaps I'm just tired, but I can't find a handful of specific rules about the drive team - and I've spent too much time looking already. I know the "typical" rules. However, with the "change" theme this year, I don't wish to assume things are the same.

1) Does the drive team still consist of exactly four players? (I can't find it in the rules, but the reveal video shows 11 players on each alliance.)
2) Can one of the drive team members be an adult?
3) If so, is the adult restricted to a "coach" role? (In the reveal video all players - except the two human players - are crowded around the control consoles.)
4) Does the human player have to be designated?
5) Does the team still need to wear safety goggles on the field? (I was wondering if they needed hard hats, too!)

It's like I'm blind and simply can't find a section of the rules.... Of course, I am 75% certain that I will find this section 5 minutes after submitting this.
Etc.

If you can cite the rules I am missing, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks!

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

Reading the glossary at the end might help you the most.

Edit:
Edit2 (emphasis mine):

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

DRIVER, HUMAN PLAYER and COACH are defined in the Glossary.

The requirement to wear safety glasses on the playing field and practice field is in the Safety Manual.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

Now I feel a little silly..... I did not think to read the Glossary.

Thank you.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

I am just wondering but if the human player is part of the drive team then is he allowed to switch with one of the drivers?

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

Looks like human players can step in to drive, according to G32. It says the robot shall be operated solely by the drivers and/or human player of the team.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

So technically speaking if you want everyone to be cozy you could have a 3 people controlling the robot as opposed to 2 and since we can only have one human player in each human player zone anyway it isn't detrimental to the alliance

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

G32 allows human players to operate the robot. Whether or not this is detrimental to your alliance depends on your strategy.

Something I hope gets clarified is G5. It says that "only one" alliance member is allowed in each human player zone during the match. I hope the GDC gives an update or Q&A response as to whether "only one" is supposed to mean "exactly one" or "no more than one".

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

I believe that G5 is supposed to be read as "no more than one" because of G6. G6 states that a human player cannot simultaneously touch a tote and the chute door, and if there were 2 human players in one human player station, then one cold hold the chute door while the other loads totes in rapid succession. I believe that the GDC intended to have totes loaded into the field in a timely manner, and both G5 and G6 indirectly regulate that. However, in recent years it was up to the alliance as to where to place human players. In 2014 you could have all 3 human players behind the glass or you could spread them out in the zones on the other side of the field. Basically, I think it was supposed to be interpreted as "no more than one", because they want to regulate the loading speed of totes and because they won't force a human into each station.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

That all sounds reasonable, but I base my interpretation on what the rules actually say, not on what I think the GDC was thinking when they wrote them. I hope that's how this gets resolved, but I'm not going to assume.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

That's fair, but I wouldn't go so far as to design a strategy that might be questionable based on the current wording only to have it be ruled illegal when the first team update comes out.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

I'm not designing any strategies - I'm a referee. I'm not a team mentor at the moment.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

As a sometime ref (though not this year) I would certainly ask, but until the rules say a human player must be in the station I would not assume that one must be. Otherwise you would likely see many violations as human players left the human player area to get totes. Only one allowed may not be as clear as saying at most one allowed, but they mean the same thing.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

I have to agree with mathking, To say "Only One" person may be in the HP area is the same as saying no more than one person may be in the HP area. It is NOT the same as saying One person MUST be in the HP area. Unless the rule is amended to say one person MUST be there then I don't see how a referee could benalize a team for not being there.

Re: Drive Team Rules
 

In common usage, "only one" means 1 is OK, 2 or 3 is not. it doesn't exclude zero.