Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I've noticed a lot of teams who's robots arent the best, can do a lot when they have good drivers. Which teams would you guys say have good drivers?

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Being a driver myself for the past three years for 1708, I would have to say 1114 has a great robot and an even better set of drivers. They never have a match that isn't a great show.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I have to agree. Without good drivers, a great machine like Steve (Their Simbot this year) would be absolutely useless. They're great guys also.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

The teams that have a sub-team devoted to strategy and drive that rigorously trains drivers year round. Going to multiple regionals and off-season events definitely helps build experience. Having a good robot is only a small part of it, especially this year which seems to be heavily reliant on driver skill.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

From what I've seen, 1503 probably has the best driver in FRC right now. He's FAST.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Nick Lawrence.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

1114, 1503, 111, and 16 for my shortlist.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

From what Ive seen over the years, experience is king. Those teams who have found someone that is a great driver their freshman year, and who can train them for four years will best most teams by the time they are a senior.

Like someone said, its not always the robot makes you perform exceptionally. Its the instinct and experience of knowing what to do in situations when your plan goes out the window. Playing smart is half the battle.

That said, Ive consistantly seen teams like 67 and 217 have some of the smartest driving year after year which Im sure has contributed to their success.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

16, end of story.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

111 deserves a drive team award

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Sorry to nominate myself but i think team 180 has pretty good drivers this year this first vid is my favorite because we scored that triangle using the jumbo tron when we couldn't see it.

http://spamrobotics.com/index.php?op...1 6&Itemid=34

This is a vid from finals with a better view of the whole field.

http://spamrobotics.com/index.php?op...1 5&Itemid=32

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

From what I've seen, ease of control scheme also plays a decent role in how well a driver performs. For instance, having presets for every peg level laid out in a user friendly way will make a great auxiliary driver even better.

That being said, 111's drivers are by far the best I've seen so far.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I would like to throw Swampthing's (Team 179) Driver in the list...

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Hey 1717 was awesome at L.A. last week. I don't think I ever saw someone drive swerve so skillfully.

2016 Sophomore Driver
 

The driver on the Mighty Monkey Wrenches (2016) -- makes the robot "sing". What's even better, he's only a sophomore.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

This is a great subject and it is discussed all the time. The drive is what makes the robot work efficiently and effectively. You could have the greatest machine on the field, but without the optimum driver to make it work in it's greatest capacity, that great robot won't be great.

There are many fantastic drivers in FRC and they all deserve a round of applause and a pat on the back. Being able to drive a robot is not an everyday task, it is difficult and takes a lot of skill and coordination. It takes a lot to be a driver, and it takes a lot of practice to make perfect precision.

We have always had reputable drivers. We had a driver that graduated in 2008, JB, the things that he could do with our robot in the time frame he did them are just crazy. I remember a match in Philly in 2008, there were maybe 7 seconds left on the clock, and we had to make it all the way around the field and shoot the track ball over. We launched the track ball up, it knocked the other alliances ball out of place and ours fell in the spot. He whipped the robot around to the other side of the field and crossed the line. The space he had to cross the line was about half a centimeter greater than our width. It was crazy!

Anyway, other reputable drivers, other than my own, would be 1114, 111, 16, 179, and 330. They all have displayed unbelievable ability on the field. Keep up the great work!

Cass

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

From my personal experience, which i was a driver for team 234 from the off-season in 2006 (freshman year of HS) to 2009 off-season at the IRI, numerous teams we had worked with had what i would call good drivers. However being able to also see it from a mentors perspective now with teams 2360 (2010) and now back with team 234 (2011), drivers are an extremely important aspect to the FRC competitions.

You must have a group at the controls and a mentor(coach) with them that can get along, have trust, as well as maintain a level but cool head while still being extremely intense. One of the biggest things i think that helped the success that we had when i was driving was the fact that myself and the operator were talking constantly in and out of matches and also would yell and argue a lot. Our drive coach had said at one point, and this may not be the exact quote from Mr. Chris Fultz, but it has to be close... he had said he loved being a coach for myself and the operator (Sam G.) because he had to give just a little input because we were always at each others throats ourselves during and after each match for what we did wrong and what we can improve.

With that said, it also goes back to robot functionality and its components where a key one, in my point of view, is programming and the controls. Each year i have been with a team, the driver and operator sit down with a few manufacturers about half to 3/4's through the season and decide how they want to drive/operate. Without certain functions on the controls, operating the robot would be extremely difficult. In 2007 with our arm on our tube hanging robot, we had each peg level pre-et. This year, another tube hanging game, we have pre-sets again. The operator has a switch for the middle set of pegs which allows for the extra height needed.

I have been out in the workforce some with one of our sponsors recently as well as worked with other manufacturing companies locally in Indianapolis. Seeing people operate the "non-programmable" lathes, mills, cncs, etc. it has become apparent to me that the saying is true - the operator can only be as good as the best tool he has. Without the right tools, you can only be so efficient.

Also i can say that having as much practice as possible before going to a competition is extremely important! Even if it is just driving a chassis.

I believe what i am trying to say is that there is a certain combination - drive coach, driver, operator, robot, controls, and programming - that are truly needed before it can be a winning robot. Although to continue with some of the posts prior to this, some drivers over the year, in my personal opinion, have been a key necessity to pulling it all together when needed.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

It's no coincidence that many of the best drivers come from powerhouse teams such as 111, 16, 1114, and 1503. All these teams are well organized, have more resources, and probably have a better educated student and mentor body than most teams. That said, these teams probably have tighter schedules, practice robots and full playing field, or anything else that allows their drive team the luxury of weeks to practice before competition. Usually the drivers with the most practice, especially with a practice field and other robots to compete with, will perform better in competition.

This has always been the case for my team, which never seems to finish the robot until the day before we ship. No one on my team had much time to practice with the robot, but I being a student programmer, had plenty of time to test our code before we shipped. I also was more accustomed with the control system than pretty much any eligible driver my team. Because of this, I was always one of the team's drivers, and had far more time to compete with it than anyone else.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

You can produce a good driver without a practice robot.
You do have 10 months between seasons where you could drive the old robot in order to train people.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

16, 148, 1114, 111,

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Shhhhh.

Don't give away the secret of driver training with old robots! Now teams are going to know that practicing with anything you have available is the best way to make you drivers better.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I've been keeping a close eye on 233!....
-at UCF they didn't even have a robot until well into qualifications matches, let alone on practice day... and then their tower wasn't even ready to run for a while there (go tower operator)!
But as soon as there's something operable, there they are, working their way to the top!!!

Some pretty skilled drivers if you ask me...

Don't even get me started on that base driver...

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

It's about precision and consistency between the driver, operator, coach, and human player. If you have a team in the box that cannot communicate with one another, then things will not run as smoothly. Communication is key.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Yes, I know this. But even if anyone could become a great driver just by practicing with an old robot, you're still assuming no teams dismantle their old robots, or that teams even have a place to meet during most of the off season (since my old team was moved within my high school this season, I'm not entirely sure how this will limit their time within the robotics lab). And yes, even if teams dismantle old robots they have the ability to recycle old parts in order to build practice bots. However, that does not mean they have the ability to create something that's entirely appropriate for that year's competition, particularly because not all teams can build a second robot before their first competition.

And yes, and I agree any practice at all no matter what you use is good stuff, but teams that are capable of producing a practice bot with an appropriate drive train and arm effectors have a clear advantage over teams that don't. Our team, for example, did not have a swerve drive to practice with until we built one in our second year, and even if we wanted to build another robot with a swerve drive next year, we still wouldn't have a swerve drive to practice with since my team had to dismantle it. And I know this thread isn't about how well a team can control their arm effectors, but if teams don't have the time to practice and tune those either, it's hard to say how effective they will be in competition.

I'm not saying that teams that aren't as great as 111, 16, etc. can't have capable drivers. I know many teams, including my own, have time to train their drivers using practice bots. However, there is no substitute for practicing with the actual competiton bot, or a bot with similar capabilities. And I'm sure the powerhouses can agree that there is no better way to practice than in the actual competitions. Many teams, including the best ones, improve between competitions, and I think it's partly because drivers are better suited for that year's competition after they have actually competed in one. Since many of the powerhouses compete in multiple regionals, their drivers have experience many teams could not have.

To answer the OP, I guess if you really want to see what good driving looks like, look at powerhouse teams, especially those that are competing in their 2nd or 3rd regional. Look out for 148 when they compete again, along with the other teams suggested in this thread. 148 had one of the smoothest and most polished robots I've ever seen, and their drivers make using it look easy.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Totally agree with everything up there. This also relates back to strategy and being able to recognize what's happening on the field and making decisions. You could have a driver that is at the top of their game knowing how the robot moves and still have tunnel vision set on just their machine on the field.

As soon as I saw this thread and saw that a member of 25 posted it, I thought back to 2003 when I was a drive coach on 87. I think the student driving that robot was actually built into the control system. It was fun to watch, but not fun to go up against...especially when it came down to finals!

Nate

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I don't know their names, and I know there's been more than one throughout the years, but I have to nominate 177 here.

You don't make it to Einstein 5 years straight, and net yourself 2 World Championships in that time without some darn good hands on the sticks. The past four of those appearances were as the 3rd partner on the alliance, on the 8th, 2nd, 5th and 1st seeded alliances. It doesn't matter what their robot is, they drive it well enough to make sure their alliance gets to Einstein, and win matches even when the odds are against them. That's not luck, that's skill.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I remember that all too well! If I remember right Nate, they beat us out for the gold twice! ;)

Cass

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Yeah, Nick's pretty much the man and would definitely be on my short list. Also, 1114 is always spectacular, as are the other perennial powerhouses such as 217 and 148.

Edit: I definitely also have to cast my vote for 177 (and 121), our partners that we won Newton with during Lunacy. Their driving was spectacular.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Haha...yep, twice! :D Once at the (then named) Mid-Atlantic Regional and again in Curie Division finals. Driver of that robot was one of the best!

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

from the reigonal i was at, I nominate 234's drive team.
You know, there's enough people on Chief, we should actually create an unofficial driver award, maybe a rookie driver too.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

team 768 got some good drivers this year they pop a chain and still get that minibot up the tower. and with them playing defense the team still was able to win two weeks in a row this year.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Everybody has their favorites, whether it be east coast, west coast, Canada, south or in between. The fact is it takes a lot of practice behind the joysticks of your robot. I have not see all the above robots personally, but I have seen enough to say it takes the team, not just the driver. A driver can't do it alone. He has help from the coach, other operator & team members in the stands who can see from a different vantage point. They all contribute their knowledge & experience.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I know I am biased but...
1098 may not be well known but scored many many tubes at KC and St Louis. I believe that 1098 hung more tubes than any other team.
Many of you said that it is a combo of the machine and the drive team. I think that those at Championships will agree that the 1098 drive team, coach (HS senior girl), HP, co-driver (juniors), and driver (freshman) works together very well. They work great with other teams too.
I'm proud to be a mentor of this hard working group!

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Just a suggestion, please don't "vote" for your own teams.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

This is very true, one of the most easy going drive teams I have personaly worked with. I'll nominate their drive team for any driving award.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Being 1708's human player, I've seen tons of driver teams up close and personal. I have no problem saying 1708 has a top 15 driver team under the pressure and circumstances they have been under.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Personally I would have to say that a good drive team consists of a hard working close-knit group of people. Communication is key especially if you are like me and zone out everything else but your robot while driving. Also a good drive team adapts and gets better. In 2009 our drive team went undefeated in the DC regional but struggled at all the other regionals after that. This was because they didn't adapt to the changes in strategy as well as the changes in the game itself so they peaked out and then started to decline. Basically it comes down to these few things.
1.Hard work/practice
2.Communication
3.Adaptability
4.Will to get better
5.Talent or skill

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Steve, the 25 driver from 2003 is probably the best driver I have ever seen. 25 always has great drivers (Corey is another one). The most incredible thing about Steve was that he drove a low profile bot, spent the majority of the match on the far side of field the with a giant ramp in his sight line and he was 5'8". He essentially drove blind at the entire match (this was before camera feedback for those newer to FIRST :rolleyes: ) at a speed so fast the bot would catch air over the top of the ramp and land on the down ramp. :ahh:
As an opposing driver, you would think that you could stop 25 from destroying your box stack or get past 25 to go to the ramp because you can see both bots and Steve can't. You would be dead wrong. Other teams put devices like big orange arrows on poles to so the drivers could determine their bearing on the far side of the field. Steve determined his bearing by the flying box shards left in his wake :cool:

This year I have to give major props to 1114's base driver for the ability to align the bot to the peg in high gear. Their arm operator is totally in sync. During that 150 match, they put up a mid Logo in like 15 sec.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Seconded.

We all know that your team has the best drivers in the world.

That's great. So do all of ours.

I could nominate one of my team's past drive teams--and I could back it up with numbers. Note that I said drive team, not driver. But, that makes me look like I'm bragging. I could ask, "Hey, what do you guys think of drive team X (who just so happens to be from my team)?" and I'd probably be OK. I'd also get a feeling for how they really were compared to the other drive teams out there. But If I just come out and say that that drive team is the best all-time drive team, then I'll probably have about 10 people saying that they weren't, the drivers from (those people's teams) were better, and all that sort of thing that doesn't make any friends. Especially if I were on that drive team (which I wasn't, but still).

Now, if someone else has already nominated that driver/drive team, that's a good time to present the evidence that may be a little more extensive because you've probably seen more of their work.



It's all about the teamwork and chemistry between drive team members. Ideally, a drive team practically uses telepathy to know what the rest of the team wants doing. Seeing as telepathy isn't exactly practical for most people, the closer you are the better. It's not about the driver, or the operator, or the coach. It's about all three of them, communicating, practicing, and learning what each other would probably do in a given situation.

When you pair an excellent drive team with a good robot and a lot of good practice, great things happen. Give a lousy drive team the same robot and same practice, and good things won't happen nearly as easily.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Before people jump down my throat for nominating my own team, I didn't join 229 until 08.

That being said 229's drivers from 06 and 07 were awesome. Amos drove the base so hard in 06 he warped the kit frame. (Some of the warp was due to welding) amos knew the robot was at risk of timping on the ramp that year so if he got up there, he'd simply jump the robot dukes of hazard style.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

He was definitely a good driver. I watched the Newton eliminations matches from 06 (MORT, 229, and 85 was a killer alliance). They took the combination of 254 and 71 to three matches. Sick driving.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Haha yea, id also like to add that I feel like base drivers in particular need to be able drive with reckless abandon. In other words the base driver needs to be able to drive without fear of doing some damage to the robot. I'm not saying he/she should have the intent of breaking yours or anyones robot, but he/she should definitley NOT be afraid to push the robot to its limits.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

Between webcasts and the ERC list, I think I have to go with 148 this year. I'm utterly amazed at how close 1114, 111, 67, 148, 217, 16, etc are year in and year out, though. Consistent excellence in robots is one (amazing) thing, doing it in drivers as well is absolutely phenomenal. (Any advice guys?) ;)

...erm, speaking of that ERC list...should I be the one to point out that 1985 had a 22 at St. Louis? And a 16 (with KC)? They were like 11th in the world as of Week 3.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

totally agree. He's at the top of my list along with the drivers from 111, 148, 179 and 1114. Driving isn't a easy skill. it takes A LOT of practice. I've head stories of teams staying up until 3AM practicing with practice bots the week of competition. Those 8 hour driver sessions really do make a difference.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I have to nominate teams 1114, 217, 2056, 148 for this.

Note that all of them have complete identical practice robots.

It makes all the difference.

-Nick

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I'll nominate Scott and Jai of 971. Scott's in his second year driving and he is fast. Really fast.

Re: Which teams have the best drivers?
 

I think a big part of appearing to be a good driver is having a bot that makes it easy to be a driver. Let me explain. If you have a robot that for every action somebody has to push a button or move a joystick it is tough to drive. However with nice code that gives you preset arm heights of automated goal alignment it is easier to look good driving.
Now with that said i think it is possible that there are really good drivers out there who maybe don't look as good because they have to control everything manually and given the controls to a well programed bot they could really show off a bit.

With that being said i will say that the 148 robots have always moved incredibly nicely around the field. Last year in Atlanta they had some incredibly cool tricks up their sleeve to get around defenders and that really impressed me.
1114 has always been high up on my list as well.

~DK