Picking Drivers?

[Astronouth7303]

We sorta knew who the drivers would be at the beggining. All Seniors!
75% of our team are seniors

[Joshua May]

We had planned on having driver training and tryouts, but we didn't have much of a complete robot that was drivable until near the end, so we didn't get any time. Thus two of the girls on our team volunteered and did a pretty good job (one was my friend, the other my sister). Then I was the coach mostly because of seniority and then we had primary and secondary Human Players who were trained and selected pretty much during the first week of build period only. Next year, however, we will definitely have driver training and tryouts.

[Doug G]

We had planned to have tryouts as well, but of course we didn't finish in time to do this, so the two students that stayed 'til midnight when the drive system was complete and tested it out ended up being our two drivers (one for each regional). Our programmer was the other operator, since he was the only familiar with how the controls were programmed. For the human player, we had three students practicing for days / weeks and they rotated in for different matches. We also rotated in different coaches. It worked out fairly well because many students were involved and our robot wasn't working that great, so we knew we weren't contending for the top spots.

[Mike Ciance]

we had a very wreckless and agressive driver at the beginning of the season. he had been practicing with stack attack, where this was benificial, so we figured he would be good. however, with the human player setup, where the human players reached into those barred areas, it was too dangerous to have an agressive driver. he accidentally entered the player station a couple times and we immediately pulled him because we wanted to keep the game safe. our new driver is more controlled and very safe. so it really depends on the nature of the game. some people are good in some games, while others are good in others. few people are good at any kind of game (steve cosgrove is!) and the driver should be chosen based on the game, not just their general skill

[spears312]

Im not too sure how we pick our drivers, but like others have said the best way to go about picking a driver should be picking who can drive the bot in the way it needs to be driven, paring up a aggressive driver with a fragile bot dosent often turn out well, and visa versa.

[Lisa Perez]

On Team 1, we have tryouts for those who want to be driver/operator. When we have it narrowed down to two people, each person's position as either driver or operator is selected by his or her ability with the separate types of tasks.

On Team 573, the driver is usually selected based on the person who's been on the team the longest. It is seniority, in a way, but the driver, in most instances, has had practice with FIRST and OCCRA robots through his or her years, and therefore has the ability to drive.

[Billfred]

This year, it was the two guys who were the big-time builders. On top of this, neither of them managed to take out any tables or get tackled with the robot. I guess that was our criteria.

[Matt]

I was the driver for our team. I was chosen becuase I was a senior and because I was working on the drive train and new how to control the robot. We chose our driver based on who works on the drive train and who works the hardest on the team. Usually it is not base on seniority

[karinka13]

Supposedly, I'm the driver (or co-driver) this year. Basically, our drivers last year were seniors so they said "let's get some new drivers! hey karen, why dont you be a driver! and you too, liz!" so now we seem to be the drivers...funny, they did the same thing with the human players....

[rocknthehawk]

Seniority should definetly not be used to consider a driver, well at least in my opinion.

For our team, we had "Driver trails" where anyone who wanted to drive showed up,a nd we practiced. We also try out different combinations of drivers during off-season comps.

I was chosen for driver because of my skill, and calmness under pressure. Our controler is my twin brother, which actually works out really well, because we obviously know how to work together (we've been doing so for the last 16 years), and because we see each other every day. So basically, if you have a set of twins on your team, try them out

[SarahBecker]

Yea, we do the whole try out thing. Basically we bring all of our rookies to an off season, and before we get there the question is asked, "Who wants to drive?" At that point anyone who has ever wanted to drive gets the chance to "sign up". From there, the "drivers" are given a match that they will be driving in, and whoever knows the most about the controls (last years driver/ operator) shows everyone what they are doing. It's easy to see then and there who has skill and who doesn't, and who has the calmness under pressure or not.
Other than that, it's the typical try outs in the garage, running around obstacles with a robot.

[Scott Ritchie]

We give a lot of students the chance to drive at the IRI and we judge from there. What do I look for in a driver?

1. Cool under pressure.

2. Someone that will stick to the plan and not get caught up in the excitement or smash'em up.

3. Someone that can take a butt chew-in after the match and not be crushed.

4. Someone that will drive the robot all out.

5. Someone that realizes that the scouts are watching every match, even the practices.

Everyone thinks that the video game player is who you go after but I think you have to have an athletic and strategic mind. Also the key is consistency. Start young drivers out and stick with them their Jr. and Sr. years. I go after Sophomores and Freshmen and stick with them once I can trust them.

[phrontist]

The people who want to be drivers are the last people you should allow to be drivers.

[rocknthehawk]

The people who want to be drivers are the last people you should allow to be drivers

I couldn't disagree with you more. I wanted to be a driver, and i turned out to be the best that tried out. Would you rather be stuck doing something you dont want to do? didnt think so.

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by rocknthehawk

I couldn't disagree with you more. I wanted to be a driver, and i turned out to be the best that tried out. Would you rather be stuck doing something you dont want to do? didnt think so.

Was everyone required to try out? Then how do you know you were the best?

Perhaps some rephrasing is in order.What I mean to say is the people who get all in a tizzy about driving are not the people you want driving. What you need is the person who doesn't really want to be driver, but won't cave under pressure or loath the assignment. They should be able to calmy and quickly execute the instructions of your strategist.

Basically, if you've got a good robot, it's intuitive enough that anyone can drive it, so why give it to some giddy exciteable person whose clamoring for the job?

Oh, and even though I have zero evidence to back this up, I'd tend to lean towards female drivers.