[EricH]

Originally Posted by epic_wts

Wait, are the mentors allowed to train the drivers, but not allowed to actually drive the robot at any time themselves? Is that right?

Mentors are not allowed to drive the robot. It's a red card and disable if they operate the controls (<G56>). Drivers are the only ones who can touch the controls; drivers must be pre-college students; mentors can be the coach if that is what the team wants, but the coach can't touch the controls.

All I'm going to say on the original topic is: FIRST has left it open for the teams to decide whether a mentor or a student is the drive coach. Which your team chooses and why is not my business; you can tell me, but unless you've got a reason that's really out of line I'm not going to say anything either way.