Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

The one thing I don't see mentioned here is passion.

A good driver must have passion for the game and the sport. This is the most important thing I look for in a driver, second is dedication.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

I second that. "Passion for the game and the sport." Love it! :D

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

We looked at vision in 2009, 2010, and 2011. All three times, we looked far enough to decide we didn't like it:

-In 2009, we had so many issues with CPU load of using the camera that we just gave up because we had other problems to solve. By the end of the season, our Hotbot design didn't even have a turret or camera, and the problem became irrelevant.

-In 2010, we were still having lag issues, and it was hard to get a fast enough PID loop as the sensor was so slow. We supplemented it with a gyro, but eventually gave up because the driver was so much faster at alignment. And our operator got good enough (With a linearization algorithm for the kicker power) to set the kick distance correctly.

-In 2011, we gave up on the Axis cam almost immediately, once again due to lag, but attempted some tracking with the CMUcam from the 2005 KOP (the same one in the 2006 and 2007 KOP's). We got it at a decent framerate (I think we got something like 15 fps), but it was still slower than a driver so we saved the weight and complexity of making it work and just practiced more.

That said, we do all kinds of automation on the elevator system, handling state-transition and control loops to offload driver work. That kind of automation is great, as it can do something a driver can already do faster, but fixing something that is impossible to drive or doing vision tasks because they show you how in the default code isn't usually a good thing.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

Well, never actually using the axis camera yet, I have to say thanks for telling me that! I was gonna try to use it this year. I've seen other teams successfully using vision. How do they do it?

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

I don't know.

We haven't found a pressing need to use vision since 2006 and 2007, where it was easy to use and didn't add a huge processing requirement.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

The most important aspect of a drive team that will make them successful is by far the amount of practice time they get. A great drive team has drivers that instinctively know how to do anything with their robot, without thinking about it. A great drive team acts as a set of four hands which get commands from one brain (the coach). It takes a lot of practice to make this happen. The more closely you can simulate a competition, the better - practice with loud music on, with old robots on the field (bonus - you also can get multiple people practice at once this way), and invite other teams over to practice with you if you can. Once operating the robot and strategy decisions become natural, your team will perform a lot better overall.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

I think this is one of the training areas that I am the most unsure of. How do you train a Drive Coach - or better yet - how can you train yourself to be the Drive Coach.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

Practice makes perfect!

A good candidate for a drive coach is a natural leader - they already have some of the key skills needed. After that, it's all about practice and experience, which takes awhile but will help tremendously.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

Ditto. Watch lots of match videos, remember the type of game strategy you designed your robot to do, and practice as much as you humanly can.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

Practice driving, too, so you know what you're talking about when you're not the one on the sticks.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

Fun fact: It is impossible to get me to voluntarily give up the controls to our 2011 robot. :)

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

The one most critical trait that I look for in a driver is situational awareness. Most drivers have a terrible case of myopia when it comes to driving in a FIRST competition. Let me try to explain. Most first games are highly dynamic and with 6 bots on the floor it tends to be very chaotic. The large majority of drivers I have worked with tend to lock on to their robot, the field piece and the chosen action they perceive to be the next choice for action. They do not perceive the rest of the field and the dynamic actions that are taking place. They are locked onto the current action and can not see or disconnect to take advantage of another opportunity that has suddenly presented it's self on the field outside of their narrowed field of vision. Then every once in awhile there is that one individual who has this perceptual brain functionality. Many times they are written off by the team because other drive candidates have better control finesse. Practice can make any individual a good driver from a control perspective. Situational awareness - I believe you are born that way. The real problem is that the dynamics that happen at a real competition can not be duplicated while practicing at home. We have tried having a second bot on the floor to play PITA to the primary bot. It doesn't come close to the real thing. Off season comps are are great time to search for this elusive person.

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

I read this as situational awesomeness. :p

Re: Good vs. Great Drive Teams
 

In my opinion it would be the coaches responsibility to have this situational awareness and it would be more important for the driver to have a cool head and the ability to execute maneuvers. I think the coach should be the one to pay attention to the field and give the driver instructions. If you have your driver look for scoring opportunities while also trying to do something else with the robot you will get mediocre results on both fronts.

Find a coach that knows the game, your strategy, and your robot's capabilities. And as far as the driver goes, practice practice practice. There is nothing that can make up for drive time. A driver with a good robot and a lot of practice can easily keep pace with a better robot and a driver with little practice.