[Mike M.]

After being on both sides of an FRC drive team (driver then coach) let me throw in my $0.02 on what it takes to make a successful drive team.

First things first I think that the drive team should be made up of two drivers one who controls the base of the robot and another to control the manipulator of the robot. This allows each person to concentrate on exactly what they need to do, instead of for example the base driver worrying about where the robot is and manipulating an arm at the same time.

The selection of a drive team is a process that really needs to be started as soon as possible so the driver and operator learn how one another thinks and can anticipate the needs and movements of the other. In the end the drive team should be made up of the people who can prove that they can handle the robot the best out on the field. If at all possible it is best to have the drivers work with a robot even if it is not the current years robot. Just getting the drivers stick time will allow them to get used to driving a robot and working as a single unit out of the playing field. If old FRC bots are not available working with a VEX bot is similarly useful.

After giving everyone who wants a turn to try out for the drive team it should start to become apparent who handles the robot well and who works well in at team. Once the field of applicants is beginning to narrow down it become the time to choose the primary drive team and the backup team. It is important to stick with a single drive team throughout a competition that way the drive team gets more and more time with the robot the really gets to meld into a single unit working smoothly with each other and the robot thus letting them have more fun out on the field and also perform better.

The final decision of who is drive team should come down to a number of things. Their actual performance driving the robot. This can be determined anywhere from a simple timed obstacle course or all the way to driving a full up match at a pre-ship competition. Knowledge of the rules must be tested as well. The drivers need know the rule so that they know what they can and cannot do on the field. Also in case something seems off in a match they can go to the head referee and intelligently voice their concern and back it up with knowledge of that years rules. This is can be done with an easy multiple choice quiz of something more challenging such as giving them some scenarios that might occur during the match and have them explain whether or not what occurred was legal or not and why.

A secondary or backup drive team should always be assembled too. This allows in case for some reason one of the primary drivers cannot make it to a match or competition a trained person to jump into the team and make it seem as though nothing has changed. In this respect the backup team should work very close with the primary team to ensure that they do in fact have a good feel for the robot and the other drivers. Lets say you have a driver practice the backups should have almost as much stick time as the primary team does this way if they are called upon driving is already second nature to them. Also it is a very good idea to have the secondary team take one of the practice matches on Thursday of the regional competition so they are used to being down on the field in front of a crowd.

In my experience the coaches that have the greatest impact on the success on the drive teams are the ones that are able to get their drivers to relax when they are behind the glass and just focus on the task at hand and not worry about little things that are not currently affecting that match. Having said this some of the best coaches that I have seen are college students and mentors that were FRC drivers or operators in high school. They have the advantage of knowing exactly what a driver needs and doesn't need to know during a match. 99.9% of the time the drivers don't need to know which way they need to move a joystick. They need information that will allow them to simply carry out what is needed in that match. Example they don't need to know to go left around the track but they do need to know to things like get between team xxx and that red track ball or we've got 10 seconds left drop whatever you are doing and get the other alliance's ball off of the overpass.

It's not quite as evident as in past years but the human player and this year robocoach selection should mirror the driver selection closely. The person that is the best at accomplishing the task that is needed of them should be the one doing it out on the field at competition. As determined by a test using what is required of them to accomplish in that year.

One final word of advice if your drive team isn't having a good time out there it might be time to change the way you are doing things. Remember a happy drive team is a successful one.

MikeM.