Re: Driving Experience
 

I've pretty much got it under control and can scope out the surrounding area, although sometimes theres just too much going on to see it all.

Re: Driving Experience
 

I have been an arm operator on my team since my freshman year (last year). I know how it feels to have tunnel vision and try to work with someone who is oblivious to the world around him.

I was wondering how many teams rotate their drivers. We rotated our drivers last year, up until the elimination round, when we combined the two drive teams into one team. This year we are only rotating during practice days, but we still have two completely different drive teams.

We get a little practice before we ship, but not a lot. Practice days help, especially when it comes to strategy.

Re: Driving Experience
 

This year was my first year driving, after being one of our alternating human players last year, i had some experience on the field, but i was nervous first day of matches, because in the practice matches me and the other driver did not do as well as expected, our first day of matches we didnt do to good, but on the last day of qualifying and towards the end of the first day we finally got the hang of it and won 4 in a row on the last day of qualifying matches, (we got the semifinals and we capped the most in our alliance) so i think that regionals actually helped me gain experience and now i kno wat to do at nats and i wont be as nervous, like many of you have said, its just relaxing up there and concentrating, once you can do that, ur set

Re: Driving Experience
 

03-Arm-120+matches
04-Drive-120+matches
05-Drive-still going 23 matches so far
06-Sr. year..... oh yeah

250-ish matches has taught me a few things
...being a driver isn't driving fast and pushing hard, it is maximizing the abilities of your robot and operator.
...there is no point in being nervous, it is just a game
...your coach is the real driver, he knows everything that the robot is going to do, the drivers are just there to implement that.

$.02
-Henry

Re: Driving Experience
 

My advice to rookie drivers is to talk with your alliance members before matches. Make a plan that you're all happy with, otherwise you'll be unhappy with the results. Case in point: Our team switched drivers half way through the elims and the new rookie driver didn't coordinate with the two other teams, who I don't think talked to each other. They both went on defense while our rookie driver tried to give our alliance some actual points. It was our lowest scoring match if memory serves me correctly.

After that match I made sure our team talked with the alliance members before each remaining elim match, and our strategy improved, although our record certainly didn't. We finished elims 4 wins and 8 losses, 3 of those wins were from our first three matches. We had a lot of people rotating around the driver, operator, and human player spots, but for the last 5 or so matches we locked the positions and had a good combination that scored consistently. It's weird to be happy with your team's performance despite losing again and again. Thanks to the Dukes and the High Rollers for seeing through the record.

Rookie drivers: be sure to talk with your alliance members and if you have any questions, ask away. Have fun and before you know it you'll be reminiscing on CD about your driving days to tomorrow's rookies.

Re: Driving Experience
 

Yes before each match it is very important to talk with your alliance to come up with a plan that maximizes the abilities of all three robots. Although its just a game, sometimes you just get so worked up over it you have to get a little nervous.