What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

What position Do you find to be more of an honor on your FIRST team? Being part of Drive Team or part of pit crew? :confused:

JT

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Both I feel are equally important because you can't have one and not the other. It is also good to have a driver be on the pit crew or the driver have good communication with the pit crew, because the driver knows or has an idea about what he or she broke during the match and what needs to be checked and fixed. So what is more of an honor? For me it is an Honor just to be envolved with FIRST no matter what role I play.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I personally think its a greater honor to be on the pit crew, any putz can drive a robot (I never said drive it well and win a national championship) but you truly have to work really hard and understand every little mechanism on the robot to be on the pit crew.


*btw hope you're having fun up in sunny potsdam! Tell the team I give them all my best!*

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I personally think that everybody on the team is important. No matter what, every single student, mentor, teacher put their effort all year long to get the team going. So in my opinion, Credit goes to everyone.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

On our team, our driveteam is part of the pitcrew so I guess driveteam.
Eric

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I dont know which is more of "an honor" but I enjoy being on the Pit Crew more since I find it more fun to be able to know hot everything works then to be able to drive it.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Very true,very true. Everyone deserves credit for the work they put in during the season. I wasn't trying to say they aren't important to the teams success. :D

thanks for your opinions everyone

JT

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

In our team, despite our atemps of limiting the number of people in the pits, everyone wants back there and it is nearly impossable to keep un-needed people out. I don't mind having people back there, just it gets crowded and they often times don't help. In our team the drive team is more of an honor becuase htere isn't any real restrictions on the pit crew.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I wouldn't say either is more of "an honor," but both are important parts of winning matches and championships. The drive team are certainly the most visible members of a team, and for some, that is the only place they really want to be. They want to be where the action is. To win championships, the drive team needs to have the motor skills, use good strategy, and maybe most important of all, they need to work well together.

The pit crew, if less visible, is equally important to a winning effort. On our team, the pit crew is who makes sure our robot is ready to go for the next match, with everything checked over and properly "reset." The pit crew also manages our battery charging and queuing. When you have a great pit crew, the drive team can be scouting, watching matches, and working out strategy with partners for the next match. They don't have to worry about the robot, because they know the pit crew will have it ready for the next match.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

well said finny...

but from my stand point... there are only 2 drivers on the team... BOTH of them must know how to fix the robot at any time wether its to carry it off the field... or you notice something is messed up pre-match... so having both has to be more of an honor from my stand point...

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Having been on both, I have to say that I really cannot choose. Each group takes the same intense amount of dedication, perseverance, and knowledge - even though the problems one comes across in drive or in pit may be completely different.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I've never been much for taking up the spotlight, I've always wanted to be down on the floor showing off what we've been working on for a month and a half.
I think they're pretty much equal in importance, but I think someone said once that there is more honor in doing something to help out rather than doing it to be recognized for doing it. o.O my 2c

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Well, thats basically the best way to phrase it. However, the way i see it is that the drive team is the one thats honored the most because they are out there controlling what the pit team fixes up and builds. They are also responsible for how the robot does in competition. Yet without the pitcrew, the drive team would be moot, because there would be no robot to field. Drive team just measures your on the fly thinking, handeye, communication, and reflexes(as a rule of thumb).

So really, the Pit Crews tend to be the unsung heroes to the population, but to the team community, the pit crew would be the most honored.

You can call me a selfcentered egotistical little *explicit deleted* but, id much rather be on the drive team myself. Just something about it brings a passion out of me that i can only get when competing in sports or talking about sports.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I personally like flight since the team always wants to be in the pits helping and watching and knowing what is going on at all times. At least with flight you cant have everyone helping you with it its all you. I accually think coach is the most honorable since this year at least that has to be the hardest position to fill and to be able to know whats going on and be thinking strategy and your capablities in comparison to your alliance and opponets that a lot to do and should be the most honorable.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

What about programmerz? we aren't talked about much... I was driver last year, but there wasn't much difference about being in the pits. The only difference would be that i would break stuff (http://soap.circuitrunners.com/2004/.../fl/fl_061.wmv you gotta watch that arm breaking, that is why programmerz shouldn't drive), while the people in the pit would fix them. But its fun in any part anyway. We are all equal.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I've been on both and I don't think either is really more of an honor per say, but I definitely prefer pit.

Flight can be exciting, but it is a lot of pressure and there is so much going on it was pretty stressful for me.
Pit I really like tho. Most of what happens in the pits is just behind-the-scenes stuff. You have to know a lot in general to be on pit, but it's usually a lot of fun.

Both, however, have their own rewards of teamwork. While on flight you get to learn about working in conjunction with another team. It's a good leson in quick thinking and teamwork which is cool. While, at the same time pit if there is something one team needs all they have to do is ask the pit next to them or a couple pits down. Everyone in the pits is ready to share their tools and their knowledge and thats what's most important to me.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Most studetns already help build the robot, so they should all already understand how it works, so driving is extra on top of knowing how to build and fix-it. I think being able to drive it adds to the excitement, knowing that you helped build it and now you get to compete with it.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I would say they are an equal honor if your team has all-student drive teams and pit crews like ours, our coaches do very little at the competitions. They are both equally vital to the success of a team; if your pit crew is so inept that the battery does not get charged, what good is a crack drive team?

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Both are equally important.

When I was in highschool I did both jobs.

I guess you could say it is more prestigious to drive the robot.
"I drove the robot to victory!"

However, there is the flip-side.
"I fixed the robot that you drove to victory!" :yikes:

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Having been on the human player my first year then driver last year, as well as pit crew both years, my vote has to go to the pit crew. It is fun to be up behind the drivers station at competitions, but I do not enjoy it as much as maintaining the robot. In some ways I think it is more of a challenge to work on the pit crew. Even though driving is more stressful considering the total amount of time that the robot is on the field, there is not much more daunting of a task than getting a badly beaten robot back to operating condition in such a short time as we have at competition :ahh:
I liked driving and all, but I'd rather be behind the scenes than in front of them.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

neither..
everyone that learned about engineering and technology during the season
The competition is a fattening dessert to a 6 week meal

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Yes, it is credited to everyone. I find though in my team the driver and operator generally are in the pit crew. But really the pit crew as a whole isn't honored. It is just the driver and operator and human player when the game is won. All well. I'm in the pit and I worked hard and I know it but never get credited for anything. Everyone works hard though because it's a team and as people always say there is no I in teamwork.

Really though it's a huge honor to be part of a team and of FIRST.

I applaud all members of every team for what each of you do. Everyone has a way of helping the team.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I think the honour is a really personal thing. As Arefin said very very eloquently, everyone deserves the credit. However, I've noticed that all students have different priorities.

I am not on the mechanical portin of my team, yet the greatest honor ever was to be chosen to do Chairman's award presentation becasue I was a rookie and all eager and stuff. :) If you ask a student what they want to do, they may be happy with anything from talking to media to driving. Everyone has their own interests, and the ideal pit crew or drive team sees their respective roles as the best they could give to the team.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

remember, you can't drive unless it works. plus if its not working, then its the drivers fault. PIT CREW!

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Drive team will always be the glamor position. Being on the pit crew is a lot like being the punter on a football team. They never get the credit they deserve, yet perform an invaluable task.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Exactly...and it's kind of like show biz, you've got the drivers or "actors" which play an important role in representing (their team, in this case), and the behind-the-scenes crew which are key elements to making it all work as a whole. I don't think there's one that's more important than the other, although the drive team does seem to get more credit (those overpaid actors!!:ahh:). Both are demanding and exciting, it's simply a matter of being in the limelight or not...

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

i think that every person on the team is important as long as they do something to help the team..im in the pit and im a driver, and i believe that both are equally important, because the pit is where most of the work is done fixing the bot, hours are spent in the pit fixing the robot, and the drivers an important job as well, because they have to perform well in order to get in a good place
i believe that the people who dont work in the pit or drive are equally important...for example every team needs good scouting reports or they wouldnt know what strategy to use in each match, and also team needs fans in the stands for moral support, our team usually doesnt have that many fans because we dont have that many people, but the teams that have a bunch of fans in the stands have a lot of support

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Every position on the team is equally important. View it like football: the QB (Drive Team) gets the spotlight but without the offensive line (Pit Crew) there will be nothing accomplished. Either poistion is glorified equally.

I am a member of Programming/Control Systems/Driver so I relized how valuable communcation between different groups of teams are to the success of the team as a whole.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Personaly,
I thinkwe should all feel honored for being involved in FIRST period. I know that i have felt honored to be a part of this program in many jobs, from driver, to pit crew, to webmaster, to video editor, to announcer at competition, to college student, to general volunteer, all of them have been an amazing honor.
The honor from any given job is not so much what your doing but how you do it, the hardest working garbage man deserve more honor then the laziest super hero.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

anyone with hours of practice can drive a robot, especially with controls as easy as a stearing wheel (go our programmers) but pit crew people acually have to have a clue how stuff works on the robot. much more knowledge and work in that one.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Drive crew: Why bring about crappy driving and breaking the robot so many times?
Pit crew: What's the use of driving a broken robot?

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

Its tough to say which would be better, you can't drive a broken robot and you can't have drivers who just can drive and break things on the robot...But i'd prefer to be on the drive team, although i did help do a lot of building on the robot.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

pit crew is fun cause u get to work fast like a nascar team. driver is fun cause if u win, its because of u. if ur operator and u lose, then its your fault. so really, its just the perspective of your teammates and what they think about that person.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I think that either or would be an honor. Without the pit crew there is nothing to drive, and without the "good" drivers there isn't much of a chance of being able to compete well.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I think both are equals like different teeth on the same gear, no one tooth is more important or honorable than another. An awesome drive team cannot operate a disfunctional robot and vice versa. It's like saying whos more important in a movie production, the crew or the actors? All you ever see in a movie are the actors, nothing more.

Last year we had the perfect combination of great driving with great pit work. During finals at Canada, our bot was literally torn apart in the first match. But in about the next 10 minutes, the pit guys were able to patch the bot together for the last match, in which our drive team did beautifully.

So I admire both groups equally and would be happy to be on either one.

Re: What is more of an honor, Pit Crew or Drive Team?
 

I think that anyone that truly knows the inner workings of both the drive team and the pit crew, everything that goes on behind the scenes would agree that they are both equally important or "honorable", however I believe that when the team does well more credit is given to the drive team rather than the pit crew, even though without them the robot would not perform as well as it does. I believe though that they are both equally "Honorable" but everyone on the team has a role and each role is equally important, and all those people working together is what really makes a team succeed.