[Loose Screw]

Things that I look for in drivers (and remember from my own driver experiance) are as follows:

Drive Coach
The drive coach should have a near-perfect understanding of the game and the meta-game. Knowing which decisions will get you more points and which decisions will impress the top teams are key elements for a DC. They should also know the limits of their robot and drive team. For example, if their robot can take totes from the landfill, but the drive team only has experiance loading from the HP, the DC should go for the safer and more reliable option.

Off the field the Drive Coach should be someone who's fun to be around. One of the most important aspects of the DC is being able to keep the drive team energized, calm, and as stress-free as possible.

The drive coach should be strategic in thinking, but cool and decisive in acting.

Driver
The driver should also know the limits of the robot. Knowing which areas their robot excels in and where they struggle are key aspects. Lining up a shot or where to place a gamepiece should be second nature to them. For example, when I drove in 2012 I would line up in the same spot every time. After a while, the line-ups became second nature, and people began to compliment us on our camera-tracking program (which we didn't have). The coach tells the driver a generic task (pick up totes from the landfill), and the driver should know every detail of how to do so.

As for chemistry, the driver should be bold and steadfast. That innertube? That's mine, I'm not going to let anyone stop me. Those totes? Our totes. While being bold, the driver should be very confident of their coach. As a driver, I focused only on what my robot was doing. I worked to perfect the little details of my driving while my DC gave me a plan. The DC trusts the driver has perfect control of the robot, and the driver trusts the DC has perfect teamwork with their partners.

Manipulator
As the driver knows the ins and outs of how the robot handles, the manipulator should know the fine details of how to control the scoring mechanisms. Picking up an innertube or how to stack totes should be down to muscle memory.

From my experiance of driving, the best manipulators were the ones you didn't notice. As I moved the robot around the field, it felt like all the other mechanisms were autonomous. Right as I lined up a shot in 2010 and 2012, the robot fired. As I approached the bridge, it would lower automatically.

As for personality, a shy person is ideal. They're fine with others making the decisions and will do their best without the need to be told to.

Final Thoughts
I would like to thank my drive coach and manipulators for being as outstanding as they were. You helped make me a better person, and in return, help my FTC students do the same.

When making decisions for my FTC drive team, I keep all these points in mind. If a student has drive experiance from last year, I'll push them more towards being the drive coach. I'll try to make sure we have a younger student on so they can gain experiance for next year.

A drive team should feel natural being together. They should all have trust in each other that they'll do their job to the best of their abilities. And most of all, they should have fun and enjoy this amazing experiance.