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Unread 19-06-2011, 00:46
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FRC #2228 (Cougartech)
Team Role: Student
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Rookie Year: 2008
Location: Rush-Henrietta
Posts: 371
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Re: Driver Selection: A Discussion

From what I've seen over the years being the Drive Team Lead for 2228 is that dedication to the team and involvement is a must, skill is third to and understanding of the rules and game strategy. Skill is relative in my mind and meaningless more than that, skill can be taught and skilled drivers are just those that are more experienced. Whether it be more experienced from previous games or just more experience with the current robot.

By giving a driver more time driving the robot is the best.....only way for a driver to really obtain skill. And on that note when you are having drivers practice it is not the best thing to do to, to just have them run drills. Especially when first getting acquainted with the robot. When first "introducing" driving to a new recruit what I would do is explain the controls and then have them go forward, back, turn left, turn right (taking only 30 seconds to do this) and then say "okay now just mess around with it for 5 minutes and then give me a call." Give drivers time to explore what can be done with the robot, not what we think it can do. Also on another not when you are having them go forward back etc. etc. make sure when they push the joystick forward is when the robot goes forward. When I was first on the drive team (as the turret operator on our 2009 robot) our driver spent 2 weeks driving the robot backwards and for some reason never spoke up about it, it is a simple fix and leads to needless confusion. Now once they've gotten acquainted with the robot, then start running different drills of what you want them to do. And as a drive coach you have one very important mission during competition and that is to not lose your voice. Barking commands at drivers like go forward...no wait back up....go for that ball........reverse roller...etc. etc. etc. is the worst possible way to have your team operate. Your drivers are smart and they can think for themselves, guide them through what you're doing and teach them judgement. This way you won't have to tell them what to do on the field. You can go into the game with a plan, they will carry out and adjust, then you can just look at the overall field and score as it advances and point out different things they might not have noticed. This is the approach I took with our drive team this year and it worked amazingly compared to the previous years barking, which was a horrific nerve racking experience I would never like to repeat. One last little thing I would like to add to how to train drivers (I know this isn't what you asked, but I'm reminiscing) is that you need to try and balance what people are there observing practice. This is because I find that the hardest thing about trying to implement this new judgement oriented approach to driving was that, when I stopped barking other people started. And this is natural because the team is trying to help. People will sit there and say don't open the claw.......lift the arm.....stop.....now forward.......good......open. and this is an impulse many people have when watching the robot, but it doesn't let the drivers use their own judgement. Plus it allows them to rely on outside eyes, people looking from angles not available to them when they're driving. So what I would suggest is to do a quick showcase of the robot doing non-sense, drive around, move actuators, etc. Then get everyone out and lock yourself in behind closed doors and shut blinds so that you can do the real practice and learning. Also this helps build up the drive team comradery, when you guys (or girls) are just there by yourselves working as a single unit.

Okay sorry about that, but back to your question, how to select drivers, what's important? A drivers dedication ensures they will be there when they're needed. Another thing is I want my drivers to have a knowledge of all aspects of the robot programming, electrical, and mechanical. So that when things go wrong on the field they can properly analyze, diagnose, and fix the situation. This year during one of our last matches the right drive chain snapped and just by looking at how we moved we were able to figure out what was wrong, explain it to our alliance, and specify we can not travel, but we can pivot, meaning that we could still possibly line up our minibot from our current location. Other things that are essential for a driver, co driver, human player, and for the coach (especially for the coach) is everyone of those people must have sat down and read all of the rules in the game section (minimum). Actually I would prefer they read every section beginning to end from the introduction of what FIRST is to the tournament section (or whatever the last section is) twice, taking time to reflect on what they have read and what situations they pertain to. If you get to competition and you don't know the rules........what are you doing there?

So to summarize:
-Skill = driving time with the robot (anyone can drive they just need time)
-Dedication is a must
-Insight and knowledge is what makes great drivers
-Know the robot, Love the robot, Be the robot (not a robot)
-Teach your drivers judgement
-Also something not yet noted make sure your drive team is a team, people need to get along and drivers are the ambassadors of the team, everyone sees them and they represent the team. Make sure you pick good people to do that

Hope that some of this helps and again I'm sorry for the rant in the middle, good luck, have fun!
__________________
2010
Team 2228(FRC) - Drive Team Lead, Drive Coach, Mechanical Team
Team 3750(FTC) - Team Lead
2009
Team 2228(FRC) - Mechanical Team, Driver at RIT, and Hartford Regionals, and Drive coach at Ruckus
*Second Place at Ruckus
Team 3750(FTC) - Team Lead, and Drive coach at Clarkson Regional
*Second Place at Clarkson Regional
2008
Team 1930(FRC) - Worked on Mechanical, Electrical, and Programming.
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