Five Person Drive team in 2017

[ctt956]

Originally Posted by Justin Montois

Somebody has to be the Drone Pilot

Originally Posted by EricDrost

Possibly a true, teleoperated minibot?

My thoughts exactly. Maybe not a drone, but some sort of aircraft, or maybe a train.

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Another possibility I thought up. What if the 4th drive team member is an optional button if you use a student as your "coach". So only 4 people on drive teams but you can either have 4 students or 3 students and one adult "coach". That way it would encourage* student coaches who could manipulate game pieces, touch controls, etc. And only adult coaches wearing the special button wouldn't be allowed to interact with game pieces, etc.

*I'm not saying it's something that should be encouraged but I can see the argument for it.

I think there's a possibility that it's to allow you to have a mentor in queue if you have a student coach.

Originally Posted by SenorZ

4th drive team member... Prepare to TAKE FLIGHT!

Jetpack game?

Originally Posted by KosmicKhaos

The spare button theory doesn't make sense. What if the coach looses their button? It also can't cost THAT much to make new buttons for each event. I mean we pay $4k an event, Id hope FIRST would be able to pay for new buttons every tournament.

However, a second Human Player is quite possible. This would mean that there could be two possible ways humans can interact with the robot, one of which not behind the glass.

A drone operator is also kind of impractical for obvious reasons but hey, it's fun to speculate

This.

Originally Posted by MARS_James

As a team who has used our second driver as a human player whenever it was legal to do so (trust me it wasn't always legal) I don't know if there is a way to use another human player for us.

However one cool thought that crossed my mind was if this person is a builder. Lets say the game either promotes modulation and this persons job is to swap out robot parts in a safe area where the robot is disabled (like the pressure pads in 2005) or they have to build the scoring component(s) basically part of the challenge is also how quickly the teams members can build interlocking puzzle game pieces even if only for the end game.

Honestly this thought crossing my mind will make the eventual explanation upset me cause I don't think it is as cool as that.

Also a possibility. Maybe something similar to how HPs could place totes in 2003, but only at the beginning of each match.

I think the coach button is an improvement over just the green dot. Since it's now clearly labeled as for the coach only, there should be less confusion. If that button is lost, the coach could use one of the regular buttons, but that wouldn't have the control restrictions, so I don't think that's quite it.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

That's because teams got a new set of buttons at each event*. Another way to read too much into this blog post would be to interpret the "every team will be getting a set like this" portion as teams will be getting one set of drivers buttons with their kickoff kit, and they have to keep them all year.




*With the exception of some years in the district format

I don't think it's "reading too much into" a blog post to suggest that a picture with a set of buttons on it represents one set of buttons. There's one coach and one safety captain, and then one more button than people expect on a drive team.

It's late December, they know what happens when FIRSTers read blog posts. There's no way they would get one set of buttons and then go "oh, actually yeah, let's grab a sixth button from this second set, with the same team number, that will frame it better". Doesn't make a lick of sense.

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

That seems very plausible since they don't have events on them like they did in the past. That seems like an extremely silly way to cut cost to me if it's true.

Only Championship buttons are labeled with the name of the event on them. Every other button is generic, and can be re-used from event to event. At least since 2009.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Only Championship buttons are labeled with the name of the event on them. Every other button is generic, and can be re-used from event to event. At least since 2009.

Yep you are right, my mistake. Apparently I haven't looked to closely at the buttons in awhile.

[mjc49]

I didn't see a Media button. Any chance that the Media person is now considered part of the drive team?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by mjc49

I didn't see a Media button. Any chance that the Media person is now considered part of the drive team?

I would guess that it's driver/operator (3) + coach (1) + safety captain (1) + spare (1). Or they figured out that sometimes drive team members aren't the only ones who need field access, and a drive team button design was handy.

There is no way that it's Media. Mainly because media folks are going to really hate being confined in the back of the driver's station, and that's where they'll need to be if they've got a driver's badge! Imagine if you've got a media person roaming the sidelines with cameras, AND getting flagged every match for half the match, just because a "drive team member" stepped outside the box.

Media passes have been event-specific in the past. Some events don't have quite as much space as others...

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by mjc49

I didn't see a Media button. Any chance that the Media person is now considered part of the drive team?

In an effort to control access to the field FIRST stopped giving teams their own media buttons and had six media buttons to be rotated amongst teams during the event. I suspect they will continue this practice.

[bobbysq]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

In an effort to control access to the field FIRST stopped giving teams their own media buttons and had six media buttons to be rotated amongst teams during the event. I suspect they will continue this practice.

At every event I've been to with media passes, (including Worlds) they've given one out to each team, but it was never in the form of a button.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by bobbysq

At every event I've been to with media passes, (including Worlds) they've given one out to each team, but it was never in the form of a button.

Haven't gotten a media badge in three years or so. Everybody still gets one at worlds, but they only let you out on the field when your team is up now. This is probably better than the old system of "everybody who's cool gets a floor badge".

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Haven't gotten a media badge in three years or so. Everybody still gets one at worlds, but they only let you out on the field when your team is up now. This is probably better than the old system of "everybody who's cool gets a floor badge".

Teams still abuse it and sneak in and then I gottta go play bad cop....

[jwfoss]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Teams still abuse it and sneak in and then I gottta go play bad cop....

Maybe the extra drive team member is the designated robot cart mover, so no one leaves carts everywhere... just for you Koko Ed.

[The_ShamWOW88]

Interesting thoughts.

But I lean closer to the idea that we're getting one set for the season rather than new buttons each event, so a spare makes sense.

Fun to speculate though!

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

Seems like a lot of stuff is pointing to the return of minibots. 5th drive team member is likely a driver for the minibot. Doesn't make too much sense to have 6 human players per alliance.

[chrisrin]

Originally Posted by ctt956

...maybe a train

Ever since I heard the train whistle ring tone that was part of the first downloadable content pack, I've been thinking there could be, in addition to the usual custom bot, some sort of simple bots on rails that at part of the field like trains or perhaps elevated zeppelins that travel back and forth across the course on a cable. One for each team, and there would need to be an operator for each team... and thus the need for an extra drive team member. We'll find out soon enough

[Vyrotek]

Originally Posted by chrisrin

Ever since I heard the train whistle ring tone that was part of the first downloadable content pack, I've been thinking there could be, in addition to the usual custom bot, some sort of simple bots on rails that at part of the field like trains or perhaps elevated zeppelins that travel back and forth across the course on a cable. One for each team, and there would need to be an operator for each team... and thus the need for an extra drive team member. We'll find out soon enough

Agreed. Especially after seeing this wheel voucher.

http://www2.bwc.com/firstvoucher

[Ringo5tarr]

Overdrive style mini/end game confirmed?