Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

This. Recycle Rush was one of the most unforgiving games we've ever had in FRC. One wrong move and your match score could drop by at least 40 points, sometimes more if multiple stacks went down. In previous years if you missed a shot you could simply try again - this year's game piece made that pretty much impossible. You needed to be both consistent and fast at high levels of play, but consistency was the most important.

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

I completely agree with you on this. Especially when you have big robot, there is very little room to accomplish the task.

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

This would have been the best year to have a new driver because some robots needed minimal driver input, and you didn't have to drive against defense.

Also, drive coaches were only important as far as where to place stacks and read off time as unless something broke(which happened its fair share of times) your strategy didn't change on the fly much

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

While this might have been true with a few bots, most of the bots that i saw, ours included, was a completely manual control. No autonomy at all. For our team this would have been a very bad year for a new driver.

However our team really hasn't done much in the new driver training area. With some training anyone could drive.

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

Even though this was my rookie year. I learned that communication is the deciding factor if you do good in a match. Good communication is key

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

I remember for our first few rounds, it sure was tricky to get the robot to be perfectly aligned with the tote chute. :D

For our robot, it was easier for our driver to collect totes from the landfill. Man, it was some intense driving.

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

I'm glad I also had to drive a landfill bot... Way more entertaining :D

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

Communication is a very big part of success, whether between driver/operator/HP or alliance partners. But part of our success this year would have to be the dedication to practicing. I'll admit, it got boring sometimes, but at the time of champs I wouldn't need to have my eyes open to line up to a chute door. Our coach said before every single match this year (including Einstein Finals) "It's only another practice match" which really did help keep stress levels low.

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

I did have a very different experience because only our claw was manual(and luckily me and our operator was great with it) while our whole stacking and intake system was run by one button.

My job was to position to get the second can, line up, spit the first tote out and then place the 6 stack and repeat steps two through four. If something broke(and it did a decent amount) thats when we switch to manual.

Re: Thoughts on driving in the previous season
 

I agree 1000%. Each person had a crucial role, and depending on the type of robot, human player could be extremely vital to the points. I thought Coopertition was quite interesting as well. (there were some good attempts there)

I'll have to commend you for that. That's pure zen mode.