Drivers: Who listens to the anouncers?

[Ian W.]

as a driver, human player, and semi-coach, i've experienced all .

when i'm a driver, i'm aware of everything, but unless i need the information, i ignore it. it's really cool, i can selectivly control input . so i'll step up to start driving, and ask for input from my coach, who tells me where to be, and then i just go from there, taking a bit from the field, a bit from the drive team, and then driving a bit. my biggest problem while driving is keeping track of the time, because i never look at the clock, unless i'm on the ramp.

as human player, it was the same thing almost. before the match, i stood on the pad, and i just cleared my mind, completely unintentionally too. it was the weirdest thing, because all i could think about was "bins go there" and nothing else even crossed my mind. after i got back into the player station, i became coach, for reasons i still don't know. i kept track of time and where the robot needed to be, and relayed the information to the driver, who then made the robot move .

all in all, i love the competition, if just for the feeling that for those two minutes nothing else matters. like, at SPBLI, i completely forgot about the world. if you came up and asked me about iraq, i'd give you a blank stare . i guess robotics is like a drug, because i know that i was happy just being at a competition, and making the robot work.