Perhaps I’m just tired, but I can’t find a handful of specific rules about the drive team - and I’ve spent too much time looking already. I know the “typical” rules. However, with the “change” theme this year, I don’t wish to assume things are the same.
Does the drive team still consist of exactly four players? (I can’t find it in the rules, but the reveal video shows 11 players on each alliance.)
Can one of the drive team members be an adult?
If so, is the adult restricted to a “coach” role? (In the reveal video all players - except the two human players - are crowded around the control consoles.)
Does the human player have to be designated?
Does the team still need to wear safety goggles on the field? (I was wondering if they needed hard hats, too!)
It’s like I’m blind and simply can’t find a section of the rules… Of course, I am 75% certain that I will find this section 5 minutes after submitting this.
Etc.
If you can cite the rules I am missing, I’d appreciate it.
Thanks!
Reading the glossary at the end might help you the most.
Edit:
DRIVE TEAM – one (1) COACH, two (2) DRIVERS, and one (1) HUMAN PLAYER from the same FRC Team who are responsible for ROBOT operation during a particular MATCH.
COACH – a student or adult Mentor identified as the person wearing the designated “COACH” pin or button during a MATCH.
DRIVER – a pre-college student DRIVE TEAM member responsible for operating and controlling the ROBOT during a MATCH.
HUMAN PLAYER - a pre-college student DRIVE TEAM member primarily responsible for managing and introducing game pieces onto the FIELD throughout the MATCH.
Edit2 (emphasis mine):
T1 Safety is paramount at all times during the Tournament. Event staff have the final decision authority for all safety-related issues within the venue. All event attendees must wear safety glasses and closed-toed shoes while in the ARENA.
Looks like human players can step in to drive, according to G32. It says the robot shall be operated solely by the drivers and/or human player of the team.
So technically speaking if you want everyone to be cozy you could have a 3 people controlling the robot as opposed to 2 and since we can only have one human player in each human player zone anyway it isn’t detrimental to the alliance
G32 allows human players to operate the robot. Whether or not this is detrimental to your alliance depends on your strategy.
Something I hope gets clarified is G5. It says that “only one” alliance member is allowed in each human player zone during the match. I hope the GDC gives an update or Q&A response as to whether “only one” is supposed to mean “exactly one” or “no more than one”.
I believe that G5 is supposed to be read as “no more than one” because of G6. G6 states that a human player cannot simultaneously touch a tote and the chute door, and if there were 2 human players in one human player station, then one cold hold the chute door while the other loads totes in rapid succession. I believe that the GDC intended to have totes loaded into the field in a timely manner, and both G5 and G6 indirectly regulate that. However, in recent years it was up to the alliance as to where to place human players. In 2014 you could have all 3 human players behind the glass or you could spread them out in the zones on the other side of the field. Basically, I think it was supposed to be interpreted as “no more than one”, because they want to regulate the loading speed of totes and because they won’t force a human into each station.
That all sounds reasonable, but I base my interpretation on what the rules actually say, not on what I think the GDC was thinking when they wrote them. I hope that’s how this gets resolved, but I’m not going to assume.
That’s fair, but I wouldn’t go so far as to design a strategy that might be questionable based on the current wording only to have it be ruled illegal when the first team update comes out.
As a sometime ref (though not this year) I would certainly ask, but until the rules say a human player must be in the station I would not assume that one must be. Otherwise you would likely see many violations as human players left the human player area to get totes. Only one allowed may not be as clear as saying at most one allowed, but they mean the same thing.
I have to agree with mathking, To say “Only One” person may be in the HP area is the same as saying no more than one person may be in the HP area. It is NOT the same as saying One person MUST be in the HP area. Unless the rule is amended to say one person MUST be there then I don’t see how a referee could benalize a team for not being there.