Drive Team Coach can and can not

I understand the coach in the 5 man drive team can not control the robot in the match.

H01. COACHES and other Teams: hands off the controls. A ROBOT shall be operated solely by
the DRIVERS and/or HUMAN PLAYERS of that Team.

Violation: Offending ROBOT will be DISABLED.

As the drive team sets up is the coach allowed to set the Driverstation in place and connect it the FMS?

Would it matter if the Coach is a Pre-college student or adult mentor?

Finally are these rules intended for the playing field or also in the pits?

EDIT: This isn’t a problem.

Would it matter if the Coach is a Pre-college student or adult mentor?

Do you mean for setting up, or if a student or an adult mentor would be allowed to be a coach? Either a student or an adult mentor can be a coach, but I don’t think it would matter for setting up.

Finally are these rules intended for the playing field or also in the pits?

From my understanding, it’s only on the field. Since this isn’t in the game manual, however, I would ask the first question in the Q&A.

  1. Yes. Coaches can set up the driver station and/or robot.
  2. It does not matter. I am a senior in high school and this is my third year coaching. I’ve worked with older mentors, college students, and high school students. Anyone can be the coach.
  3. These rules are for the playing field. There are no special restrictions on the coach in the pit

When I was a drive coach I always set up the driver’s station and never had a problem. My drivers always set up the robot while I got the station ready for them, since I was the programmer who knew the most about what needed to be done.

As a coach, you are allowed to setup the drivers station before the match and get things connected. From the standpoint of the FTA/FTAA, if the rest of the drive team is placing the robot or otherwise occupied, we would love it if you do this. That’s the first step in connecting the robot, so the faster that gets connected the faster we can get everyone connected up and get the match going.

similarly, the programmer on my team (our operator) set up the control, while the driver and I set the robot on the field. I also take a few seconds on the field with the driver to point out anything that seems relevant in how the other side is setting up.

This past summer we attended some off season events so I as an Adult Mentor and drive coach set the Driverstation up. It was off season so a bit relaxes on many rules. I want to be sure I don’t break any rules at the big show if we continue to run this way.

The question about would it matter if the Coach was a Pre-college student or adult mentor was meant if I the Adult mentor was not ok but if the coach was a Pre-college student that would be ok.

the rules for the drive coach do not change based on the pre-college status, EXCEPT for the question box. A pre-college drive coach may utilize the question box. An adult drive coach may not.