How does you team pick Drive Team? What have you done differently since there is no bag to pick it?
Do you do tryouts? Is it awarded based on effort?
Thanks
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We have tryouts where we run 5 2 min matches and then look at scores for each combination of driver operator.
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This is what 166 adopted for the 2019 season and It’s been working VERY well for us so far.
If you have any questions feel free to ask here or Alex can text me or something.
EDIT: There are plenty of threads like this that already exist. I strongly recommend doing some research.
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Thank you
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My team lets everyone drive robots during our outreach, open houses, etc. and sees how they drive there. The competent ones drive our competition bot and whoever drives the best is picked. Would like to revise it but this is our teams first year with a dedicated drive team. Recent years were based on seniority.
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This year, I created a form for applicants to score themselves on a variety of areas. My philosophy is that the most successful drive team in the long run is the one that works most seamlessly with the coach, and so I wanted to find that group. I had each student score themselves on the sheet, and then I would score them (which stays private.) This lets me see what kind of things I can expect fr my drive team. If a student says they’re an excellent communicator but that hasn’t been my experience, that’s an indicator that they may not be a good fit and is something to look further into.
I do not test driver skill. I can teach a student to drive a robot to a decent level in a few days. Much harder to teach a student to be gracious and respectful in a similar timeframe.
Here is the form I made (credit to JVN for the inspiration): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vi7e-q22r6wq27h4XaY0v3-G44SN85F2sFAbMvWJEd0/edit?usp=drivesdk
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We test multiple things
- Experiance with the robot/understanding of limits
- Improv/change plans on the fly and adapt
- Ability to score
- Ability to work with others/listen
5.wont be useless if something breaks while waiting for the next match/able to assist the rest of the drive team setting robot up or repairing on the field - Ability to concentrate under pressure
- Ability to drive the base/get around defenders
Finally my favorite what they bring to the table the others dont
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Based purely off of merit, with heavy consideration of future time commitment to the program.
In addition to this, it’s very unlikely for us to get two new drivers at once. So the driver with previous experience has some say for who their new partner in crime will be.
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On 4967 we:
- Took a list of all students interested for any of the drive positions.
- All of the students took a rules test to help mentors and students realize their grasp of the rules.
- Parsed and mildly ranked the list based on skill, commitment, demeanor, and other commitments.
3a. For example, we had a student who has trouble controlling his emotions and being respectful to others (although they is getting better). he wont be considered from driver, but he will be available to try out for technician.
3b. Another student is a lead chairman’s presenter, she was not considered for driver and operator, she will end up being our human player. - Students drove the robot as the final tryout for a couple weeks of build season.
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Somehow the team picks who the driver, etc will be. I get to be the drive coach.
Our current driver is really good, (in several dimensions, including driving ability, demeanor, robot knowledge, etc) so I don’t worry too much about how he came to be driver. 
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I miss the good old days when we’d do the knife game from Alien to see who had the best dexterity and most remaining fingers.
/s
We actually have tryouts every few years for freshmen, we don’t want someone to be a driver for a year before graduating, and we find that if we get them as drivers early, they are hooked and we have them as highly involved, highly motivated students for 4 years.
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We have a nomination form for drive team and pit crew, anyone can nominatie others or themselves for all the spots. Then I select based on those nomination, normally with some consultation with other leaders on the team. Off-season (after IRI) we do rotating drivers for most events so people get experience. Drive team selection is rarely based on driver “skill level” and largely based on who has put in the work, who will be responsible and represent the team well, who will be able to put in the large amount of practice time, who will work well together, etc. Driving to me is a lot more about practice and working well together than it is about current skill level or any kind of natural ability.
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25% rules test/knowledge
25% drive test with sticks in hand
50% interview scored by responses to game scenarios and situations
Must also:
a. be a regular contributor at team meetings, good attendance
b. be able to attend all our competitions
c. pass the grade requirement (which is only modestly above the school participation requirement)
d. Have a good working knowledge of the robot and its sub-systems
e. Not a member of the pit crew (drivers prepare alliance for next match, pit crew prepares the robot.)
This year, with 3 district events, we have 2 drive teams. The “B” team will work the entire third event. Let’'s us train new talent for future years and reward more senior members who maybe didn’t get drive team but wanted to. Hoping that corona virus doesn’t cost us any events as the event this weekend was in doubt until about 10:30 this morning and the other washington event was cancelled.
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Basically the programmers get drive practice as they test the robot, and we programmers are only allotted 2 days (because mech/electr hogs the build season) so we’re the only experienced drivers.
I don’t drive myself, but I know how to. We basically have 2 main drivers (co-lead programmer and lead electrician) (for two separate controllers) and the entire team rotates through the 3 remaining buttons (human player, coach, technician).
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In a super biased and ineffective way that puts an insane ceiling on our game performance!
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I respectfully disagree with this, and to be honest, feel that it discriminates against Gamers.
Moving on, I believe that it is significantly easier to learn the rules, understand the game, act respectfully, and demonstrate Gracious Professionalism than it is to be a skilled driver that is able to make quick decisions and operate the robot in difficult situations.
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+1 on your spreadsheet
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First, we have potential drivers and other drive team members take a rules test on the current season’s game. Really, the whole team is encouraged to take this, but it’s mandatory for drive team. If you don’t pass, you don’t move on to the next step. The test is not too difficult, but does mean people wanting to drive need to put in a little work and understand the game first.
Then we run tryouts that are close to a “real” game scenario as we can devise:
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Unfamiliar robot - We use a modified version of one of our previous robots, with minor changes made to mechanisms and particularly to drivetrain (add omnis, worn wheels, etc.) so that the previous year drivers don’t get too much advantage. This also tests your ability to respond to new information, which is the key skill in our eyes.
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“Real” game objectives - We simulate different tasks a driver might have to do during a match. Accurately place a game piece, navigate obstacles, push another robot into position, avoid an opposing robot, respond to on-the-spot changes in objectives, etc. These tasks are based on previous games, but not identical to minimize the advantage to our previous drivers.
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Objective and subjective scoring - Some things we can measure, like time to complete a task. Other things we can’t, like the ability to make decisions and respond to new information under pressure. Both are important, and we try to capture as much as we can from the tryouts.
Finally, you can be eliminated based on your level of participation in the team and your ability to represent the team well. If you’re constantly late to meetings, or difficult to work with, you’re much less likely to be picked as a driver. We need useful and comprehensive feedback from the drivers to develop the robot, and we don’t get that if you are not 100% involved in the team.
Then, it’s just as much practice as we can get. As a smaller team with limited access to real field time, that’s a precious commodity. That’s one reason we prefer to settle on a single drive team early in the season.
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Btw our team is super small only having 8 members so it’s pretty easy. Also when only 4 of us are returning memebers it cuts it down even more.
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here is a presentation i did on our drive team organization.
in the video description is some better documentation along with the powerpoint i was going over in the video.
i did not go into great detail as to my tryouts methods but i can answer any questions you may have. just dm me and we can get a better contact method. we have had great success in our drive teams as of recently. it is my firm belief a top notch drive team can carry a mediocre robot very far.
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