Student Coaches

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally Posted by SilverStar

We did not have a mentor coach this year, because, it was realized that a student could probably interface with the drivers better. Although I am heavily (probably the most) involved in the actual designing and building of the robot, I am very hands off in the driver station. I give over-arching suggestions, but all decisions are of course made by the driver. Since I (purposely) have no driver experience, there is no way I can criticize driver decisions.

Interesting concept. I felt that part of what made me valuable as a "second" coach in '98 and '00 was that I had some experience driving the robot and, thus, knew it quirks. I guess if you don't drive the robot at all, you can watch how the match is going without the distraction of thinking about what's involved in making the robot "do its thing."