What should a human player prepare themselves for and what should they expect? Any other pointers.
Be quick to respond to the pedestal light being turned on.
Be quick and accurate at feeding robots game balls
Pay attention to where your feet and arms are at all times.
STAY IN YOUR ASSIGNED HUMAN PLAYER ZONE!![/size]
Read the manual. That’s the main thing so that they know what rules apply to them.
Other than that, their job is what your drive team and alliance decide upon. So that could be anything from catching balls thrown over the truss, to giving hand signals so the drivers and coach for different strategies or “plays”.
From what I’ve seen and experienced so far this year is that human players need to have a thorough understanding of the game rules. Here are the most commonly broken human player violations this year:
-G35 BALLS may only be retrieved from the PEDESTAL and only if the PEDESTAL is lit in the ALLIANCE’s color.
(Violation: TECHNICAL FOUL. If the BALL is entered into the FIELD, a second TECHNICAL FOUL and the BALL is considered FIELD debris.)
-G39 During the MATCH, TEAMS must remain in contact with the area of the FIELD (ALLIANCE STATION or HUMAN PLAYER AREA) in which they started the MATCH. Exceptions will be granted for inadvertent, momentary, and inconsequential infractions and in cases concerning safety.
(Violation: FOUL)
-G40 During the MATCH, TEAMS may not extend any body part
into a space defined by the Human Player Barrier Brackets, the SAFETY ZONE, and the GUARDRAIL that is either occupied by a ROBOT or adjacent to such a space occupied by a ROBOT,
or
beyond the GUARDRAIL at any time.
(Violation: TECHNICAL FOUL.)
Be sure that your human player understands these highlighted rules very well, but they should be aware of ALL the human player rules (all found in the game manual). Here is a link to the manual:
http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/viewItem/3#3
Here are some other tips that could help:
-Speak to your alliance members about the best way to inbound a ball into the robot
-Pay attention during the match
-Attend the drive team meeting and understand the further instructions that they present
-It also helps strategically to have a human player in ever zone of the field
-If your robot doesn’t play in a match, send your human player to help your alliance
-Wear comfortable footwear
Have fun at competition!!!
Read this thread. Read it again.
You human player need to understand the rule effecting him (her). Violating G40 & G41(hands in the safety zone or contacting a robot) will cost you the match.
Your human player needs to know what to do when the pedestal doesn’t light.
When you ball goes out of bounds the human player needs to be awake so the field people can return the ball to them.
The HP needs to understand how to feed the ball to the alliance partners.
The HP needs to understand how to put the ball into play in such a way that it does not impede the opposing alliance and causes a penalty. (G31, G32)
Make sure all your alliance’s human players know (follow) the rules, can load each other’s robots correctly, and understand the rest of your jobs. Before the match, make sure there’s a human player going to each location.
Be good at catching and loading without the ball bouncing out of a robot. Know what to do when a field resetter walks up to you with a ball, and do it quickly.
Pay attention to the refs. If you’re getting fouls, stop doing whatever it is you’re doing (even if you don’t feel it’s a fouling offense). e.g., know how to push the ball off the HP barrier if you’re getting G40.
Know how to read the field, particularly for inbounding–e.g. if you want to throw over, bounce of the wall, floor roll it, run to the other side, what have you.
Know how to freak out appropriately if the pedestal won’t light up.
- The Manual is a great start.
- Videos of other HP’s in action.
- Videos of other strategies that heavily involve the HP
- Match simulations where we have people watching and calling for G40
- Ball in Cup games on the bus ride to competition.
*]Situps, Yoga and other Core related work outs.
Be prepared to have a ref call g 31 or 32 should you decide to inbound the ball anywhere besides a soft dump/toss directly into one of your robots next to the field boundary. Anytime your inbound ball hits opponents ball or robot they might say it is a strategy to interfere and award your opponents 50 pts for such egregious behavior.
Talk to your alliance partners before the match, and make sure you know how they want you give the ball to their robot. I’ve seen many matches where a robot comes over to load a ball, and the human player just throws it out onto the field and makes them go chase it down :eek: . This can really slow you alliance down. I know a number of teams have added human player performance to their scouting sheets/apps because of it.
Don’t inbound the ball in the last n-1 seconds of the match. It’s all penalty risk and no reward if you’re past the point where there’s still enough time to score over the truss.
n = number of seconds it takes the receiving robot to receive a ball and score it over the truss.
DO NOT commit G40’s!!!
Listen! Listen! If the ref tells you to do something, chances are that you will NOT be penalized.
Don’t expect someone to just hand you a ball.
Run fast if you’re the pedestal HP.
If you aren’t paying attention, your alliance just lost the match. THAT SERIOUS, all you HP’s out there. If nothing else, you could cost time while you figure out that this ball should be on the field… Or it could be a penalty… or a robot that is looking for a feed while you figure out the pedestal is lit… The seconds add up.