Drive Practice

[D.Allred]

Originally Posted by beijing_strbow

We're looking to make some significant improvements this season over last - one of which is the amount of practice our drive team gets before competition. So, how do other teams handle this? Do you have a set time where the drive team gets the robot, or separate drive meetings, or something else?

We may or may not have the resources to build a practice bot, but in the case that we do, how much does the practice bot help with drive practice?

We have separate drive practice time once the robot is 90%+ completed. However, we try to get as much unscheduled time to test and improve systems as they are ready during the build season.

We use a separate set of students as the "pit crew" to keep the robot operational at competitions. Any scheduled drive team practice would also include pit crew practice.

I see your team is scheduled for one regional this year and would recommend that you spend time making a tested competition robot instead of investing in a practice robot. Finish it by week 4 or 5 of build season so your can spend the last two weeks practicing and improving. Make sure you are ready to unbag the and inspect the robot immediately on practice day. You'll get good practice time on the real field and be ready to hit the ground running during the first qualification match.

David