Driving Tips?
 

so its been decided this year that i am to be one of the drivers for my team... do any of the more experienced drivers have any advice or ways to practice without the robot...?

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Just focus on what you have to do and visualize the playing field and what you are going to do when the competition comes...on how (if you are going to get the ball down and manuever it) or just going around the field...that is all you really can do unless you guys (and girls sorry) have a practice robot.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

As for driving itself, I never was one, but I know it is very important to keep your hands low on the joysticks for more precision control. That is, unless you need access to the triggers and buttons.

Main thing to keep in mind is to know how to do everything the easiest and most efficient way. Make sure you know the easiest and fastest ways to take the ball off, put it on, hurdle it, herd it, and pick it up off the ground.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Take a look at this thread from last year, there is a lot of good information there.

As for things I would add this year, it really depends what type of bot you're going for. If it's a screaming speed machine, make sure you have a lot of practice to learn the minute adjustments required to keep it under control. If it's a hurdler, make sure you and your operator are in sync (just like last year, or every year before that) because if you're off center when they press the big red fire button, you could be sending the ball into the stands.

Ditto to what the 2 previous posters already said, regarding efficiency and visualization. You should be able to know without thinking how to shift gears, arm up, launch, pivot 180 to the left, stop on a dime, etc. If you look down or have to think more than a split second for a control, that opportunity will be long gone before you ever get the chance to execute it (which goes along with one of my main points in that other thread, about just going for the chances and openings you get).

Good luck!

Re: Driving Tips?
 

With your robot out of the shop it would be best for you to sit down and study the rules. I know I know no one likes to be told to study a set of rules, but if you know them by heart and understand exactly what you can and cannot it will help in the long run.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

If you have a couple weeks before your first regional, you might want to try building a basic robot with the same drivetrain and try practicing with that, as long as you aren't making spare parts or something...

Re: Driving Tips?
 

ERM... Drive straight, turn left??? :D

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Be ready for the noise. I didn't drive but I was a human player in 2005. It gets loud on the field, your coach might be right in your ear yelling strategy and the spectators are really LOUD, especially in the elimination rounds.

Also don't stress over driving. You need to come from a match where you robot might of just broke or had a really bad driving match with a positive attitude. Like lets go fix the robot or what can we do differently next match.

The most important thing of course is to have fun.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Be able to think as you drive, and know what you're going to have to do next. Practice, practice, practice until everything about the actual controlling and driving of your robot is pure instinct. Then when you're on the field you can focus on the other five robots and game pieces. If you can make basic tactical reactions to events around you, it makes the coaches job at lot easier as (s)he can focus on the grand scheme of the match and the overall strategy.
Bottom line, practice until everything becomes instinct, then learn how to react to common field events (ie passing a robot, picking up a ball, where on the overpass is it easiest to hurdle, etc.).

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Rebuild your last year's robot as necessary (if you still have it). Bring it up to competition weight. Now, get driving in competition conditions--lots of noise, the coach yelling in your ear, and a trackball or two wandering around.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Ever see Cool Runnings...? Get the Drive Team Together to a Bath Tub and practice that way....:)

Re: Driving Tips?
 

last time i checked, bobsleds didnt have omni wheels...
but a very good susgestion...

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Your experiance is going to derive what kind of practice you need. Over the years i have noticed that one of the biggest difficulties for newer drivers is being able to correct drive the robot as it is coming at you, because now turning, strafing, and drive directions are all reversed. Also, i agree with the other posts, what alot of people dont account for is the entire atmosphere that you have to work in during competitions. It is loud and you can't hear much, haha so either get used to it or wear some ear muffs (which i do not recomend) You can also try some other things to inprove hand eye coordination as well as memorizing controls, such as video games.:yikes:

Re: Driving Tips?
 

One of our previous drivers gave myself and another driver a useful piece of advice: Control is much more important than speed.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Very true. Some newer (and some experienced) drivers also have a lot of trouble driving in reverse. Driving in reverse can be very important for getting around defense/obstructions and cn be significantly faster than turning around in many cases.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Ive never been a driver but I was going to when I was a freshmen. And the only thing my brother(who was my teams old driver) ever told me was its a robot that can be fixed so drive it like one. But than again he loved hitting things and was quite crazy.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

The only advice I was ever given before Driving was, "A robot can always be fixed but a match can never be replayed". Now I always go out with the attitude that sometimes you have to push it to the limits to do well and If you go back and know you didn't do your best then you will always wonder "what if".

Also another big thing is communicate with your scouts. I think anyone who has ever driven, coached, or negotiated will agree with me when I say at least once per regional you get that team who "can do everything amazingly" and then they get on the field and break, stink, or just don't move. You should always base strategies on scouting and what your other partners want to do. Example: just because I tell you that I can hurdle 10+ track balls in 2min doesn't mean I can, but if your scouts are also saying 10 then it's the truth, or your scouts will say "Dude that guy's a bit off it's more like 4 or 5 during a normal match"

Re: Driving Tips?
 

There is not a lot you can do after the build unless you are on a big team which built two robots. The biggest thing you can do now is be sure to know the rules, even the ones you think aren't important because something WILL come up.
At the comp, communication between you, your alliance partners, and your scouting team is vital. Also, be sure you, your driving partner, and your drive coach are on the exact same page. There is no time for arguing in a match. Run a few scenarios on paper with your coach and know what to do in each.
Other than that, keep cool and drive!

Re: Driving Tips?
 

1) The hitchhikers Guide has it right, DONT PANIC. Take it easy when your on the field, no matter how important the match is, always remember the compitition is there for you and your team to enjoy. Be wacky when your waiting to go on, spotaniously break into danceing, cheer for the matches before you, and try to have fun with your team mates.(trust me it helps) You'll drive a lot better if you lossen up, calm down, and don't stress. you'll do fine.

2) Listen to your coach! They know what their talking about, let them guide you in your desicion making on the field. Most of the time they see things that you don't

3)get to know your co-piolet and other drive team members really well. Your going to spend a lot of time with them and it's much better for everyone if you all get along.

Hope this helped. see you on the field:D

Re: Driving Tips?
 

All of this is the truth. I've seen some amazingly talented drive teams with spectacular robots fall to pieces because they were too stressed, or didn't get along and communicate well. More importantly I've seen drive teams that functioned like a well-oiled machine together and took less-than-perfect robots to places they never should have been able to go. I know it sounds corny and cliche, but when you work together you do much better.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

well, I was the driver for 973 the past 2 years -- here are a few general tips and strategies:

-be smooth. not only is it impressive, but it's safer (less chance of tipping over)
-protect grabbers/manipulators from heavy defense
-avoid entanglement with other robots - it will just slow everyone down and get people annoyed.

I know that driving styles differ depending on the robot and the game and everything else in the universe, but I hope that helped.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

know exactly what your robot can do. how does it turn? what path of travel does it take? the is very important. just like any other vehicle, you need to know what it is capable of.

dont be afraid, dont panic. but go all out, never hold back.

instinct. you need to know what is happening, and automatically know what to do.

last year, i actually got into a little zen during driving, dont laugh haha, but it worked. focus on what needs to be done, and one of the biggest things that helped me in defense alot last year, ANTICIPATE and (as my soccer coach said) keep your head on a swivel. see the field.

last thing. be confident. your driver for a reason. each match continue to prove it and be a beat.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

practice, dont forget to turn the robot on, dont be afraid, have tons of fun.

worked for me for 4 years:p

Re: Driving Tips?
 

I have been driving for three years, and this is my last year.

1: pay attention to the robot at all times. Don't let ANYTHING distract you in ANY of your senses. Even if a robot is right next to the wall in front of you waving its appendages around, you need to act like it's invisible and concentrate on the bot.

2: be aware of the position of all the robots on the field, especially in this game. sometimes the most ingenious maneuvers pop into your head during a match, but only if you know the relative positioning of everything on the field.

3: have a scouting team that knows what it is doing. often teams will exaggerate the capabilities of their robot, and thus a match that you were confident about can fall to pieces. your scouts are often the only dependable source you have about an upcoming match.

4: start talking with your teammates about 30 minutes before your match. strategy is VERY important. be politically aware, so you know exactly what they are going to do.

5: have tons of fun. I don't know about you, but I love the jittery feeling I get before a match, the screaming fans, and the 'glass pounding at the competition.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

trust your coach

Re: Driving Tips?
 

As a driver last year. I have to say the biggest thing is to relax. Driving in practice is completely different then at competition.

Also it might be too late but letting everyone drive the robot will help keep the team behind you 100% You don't want your team thinking what you are doing is easy and that they could do better. By letting them drive it makes them better understand the difficulty. Because good drivers do make it look easy.

Last but not least! Have fun it is just a game. FIRST is not about the robot. Be gracious at all times. How you drive directly reflects your team.

Good Luck this year!!!

Re: Driving Tips?
 

If only there were videos from IRI last year...

33 in particular.

Here's a big thing. Use the restroom often. That urge to "have to go" comes up more often when you're nervous, and that's the last thing you want when you're driving.

Don't be afraid to drive it like you stole it, but don't be reckless to the point where you waste time correcting what you did wrong. There's a fine line that has to be balanced on for efficient driving.

If you feel you need some limitations to how fast the robot moves, tell your software crew that you'd like the robot to drive at 50%-75% power all the time unless you hold a trigger or button (provided you have buttons on your joysticks) to get the full 100% power. Balls roll, so that 50%-75% power might be valuable.

That's what I have.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Our coach (the infamous 1024 driver from years past) says the best advice he has is

"Drive it Like you Stole it... I don't care if parts fell off. If the robot still drives, GO!" -Marc

-q

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Go fast, hit hard, and keep it wide open till you see the checkered flag or it blows... oh wait that my morning commute to work. :D

Re: Driving Tips?
 

After driving at the baltimore scrimmage i found that it was difficult at times to navigate the robot when you are positioned on either the left or right driver stations as a result of the plexiglass in the lane divider. There seemed to be a reflection off the glass of the robots in your lane as well as those behind the glass giving an illusion of what is really in the robots path. I was wondering if any of the other teams had a similar issue.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Another Tid-bit of advice is SLEEP! get lots and lots of sleep because there is nothing worse than waking up dead tired and trying to drive. Also eat lots of food, and drink lots of water and stay relaxed. One of my rituals during a competition day is to drink alot of caffeinated things. I find that they help me concentrate Lol but dont OD and drink like 10, I usually have coffee and doughnuts/bagel for breakfast, Some random competition food for lunch with a red bull/monster and sometimes at the end of the day I will drink one more redbull/monster for good measure.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Re: Driving Tips?
 

I'll second the post by QBranch: Drive like you stole it...here's why:

I'd rather see a driver make a mistake at full speed than to be tentative and just sit there. We've got bumpers on the robot and a pit crew who can make repairs. We're all behind a driver who tries to make the most out of those two minutes.

Oh, yeah: Listen to your coach (who's looking at the big picture of the match and communicating with alliance partners). Execute the coach's commands promptly and be ready to react to the next one.

Finally, take it all in and have fun. This is supposed to be exciting! If your heart is racing and you feel a little nervous, then you're on the right side of the alliance station wall!;)

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Alright so about the noise factor... for me when i drive, i seem to naturally tune out all the noise around me...now thats good and bad. Good, i get to concentrate on the field, bad, i dont here what my co-driver is yelling at me about refs and such.

So yea try and tune it out (cept ur co-driver and coach and such) and just relax, dont get all anxiety-ish and you should do fine.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Change things up when driving. Don't become predictable. If you do the same thing every round, one team will eventualy figure out how to shut you down and keep you from scoring. By driving a little differently every round, you may find a better stratagy.
Also, watch how other drivers react to your actions. This information may be valuable later.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Funnily enough, last year my arm man kept feeling nervous during the matches, so he grabbed a permanent marker and wrote "Don't Panic" front of the control sticks for the arm.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

One of the most important things that I found out was to be prepared for anything. Last year I drove 3 out of our 7 matches in NJ. The first match we went out there and out auto worked great but when I came back out HP wasn't strong enough to push an overinflated tube through the chute. After waiting about 40 seconds she got the tube through and we managed to put 3 tubes up in the remaining minute and 20 seconds but it was something I was unprepared for and that cost us a match.

In my second match on of our alliance partner's transmission's broke so we went to play offense and had no pneumatics. thanks to some quick thinking by my operator and I we managed to score some tubes without our gripper.

The in the match before my third one our other driver thought it would be a good idea to have a robot ramp onto us and then he was going to ramp on someone else. Needless to say he failed horribly. Unknown to us he tore all of the wires out from under the robot. So right before my match I was notified by a mentor that all I had to work with were our two drive motors.

In the end you should try to play out every scenario you can think of with your operator and coach and decide on a plan for each. As my previous post have shown, what can go wrong will so be prepared for it. And there will be some cases where even with good planning you will lose but at least in these cases you will have known you did what you could.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Communication with your alliance is so important. Last year I was the drive coach and this year I'm the driver, and I know that tactics can mean so much more than robot capabilities.

Great example at Finger Lakes last year: Due to some odd alliance pickings, the alliance we were in for the elimination matches had 3 robots with 3 ramps and 0 arms (us, 772, and 1728). We had no way to score any ringers (except HP's) and our first opponent (the quarterfinals) was the #2 seeded alliance, with 1126 SparX (who consistently builds the best robot out of any team in the Rochester area). We planned tactics for quite a while, and although each of their robot had an arm, we held them to just 1 ringer in each of the 2 final matches during teleop. We beat them by getting the 30 bonus points each time for ramping and we felt like we were on top of the world.

Drivers, just remember that no matter how much the odds seemed stacked against you, no matter how good that 118 or 121 or 1726 looks, don't be intimidated. Keep your cool, do your thing, and rock their socks off.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

i drove for three years back in the day...here are just a few suggestions

1. Stay cool....dont let things bother you...once u get rattled your done...u need to have ice in your veins

2. Be able the think clearly n decisivley...u gotta make super quick decisions...learn to make them n deal with the outcomes

3. Be smooth...be able to put your robot where you want...whenever you want

4. Dont put added pressure on yourself...even after 3yrs of this i would still get nervous before a match and get that butterfly thing in my stomach....but i think that that is good pressure...just dont let any other thoughts creep into your mind...always take it one match at a time...NEVER look ahead to the next match

for practice i would just say video games....preferably nascar/gran turismo like games....those kinds of games make you be smooth so it kind of enforces the same ideas n skills u need for driving even tho u are using different controls


just some advice for you to think about

Re: Driving Tips?
 

This year, I also suggest being ready for the trackballs to come bouncing toward you, and even off the plexiglass. Just be prepared, and keep your cool. And remember to turn the robot on.

Re: Driving Tips?
 

Some re-iterated things:
- take the matches one at a time: the worst thing that you can do is lose an easy match because you were focusing on and stressing about the match against 254, 217, and 330 you have the next day. No match matters except the one you are playing.
- Opponents are not enemies, they are playing the game, too - it is easy to make an enemy out of a team that has beaten you before and that clouds your judgement. This is especially difficult if your teammates are united against a particular team. Every team that I used to hate is now one of my favorite teams since I got to know them.
Some things that I haven't seen suggested:
- Imagine yourself driving the robot - this is a little trick that our drive coach endorses very strongly: since we are separated from our beloved robots now, the next best thing to driving them is to find a few minutes to close your eyes and imagine that you are driving the robot on the actual field, with the shiny metal, the bright lights, and the disco music. Go through the process of the match, driving and picking up a Trackball, scoring it, picking it up again. . . It sounds crazy (I didn't believe that it does anything), but it really does help get your head in the game and makes the operations second nature.
- Being a driver is a privilege and a responsibility - the mechanical team has trusted your to take care of their baby and the kids in the stands want to see their gladiator compete heroically; devote attention and professionalism accordingly.