Exactly. In the past my team has always selected the Base Driver based on skill, but not really examined anything else. For the new team I'm mentoring, here's the process they'll go through upon testing:

1. Students who want to be the driver can sign up. Same for students who want to be an operator. From then on we throw all the possible permutations onto a table, and the testing begins!
2. We test each operator Squad in a short (1 minute!) emulation of the game. For this year, we're going to be moving a trashcan around between "scoring windows", since we don't have trailers. The Squad that scores the highest will drive the bot.

We're hoping this will emulate the real field situation as much as possible. In order to make the test closer to the actual competition, we'll be blasting music at them, as they play wearing scratched up safety glasses. Should be fun!


Also, here's the advice I give my drivers: "Drive it like you stole it." It's the pit crew's job to make sure the bot is in good condition, the driver shouldn't have to worry about that. We'll keep the machine running, you make it your world out there. In the words of Randy Couture, "Impose your will" upon the field, and the rest will follow.