Driven For Success

Drive Team Strategies for Competitive Robotics

Feroz Balsara & Eric Bryce

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What Will Be Covered

• Drive Team Roles• Choosing Your DriveTeam• Match Timeline

– Pre-Match– Match– Post Match

• Driver Training

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Drive Team Roles• Coach

– On-field “commander”– Responsible for on-field the success or failure of the team

• Primary Driver– Controls the drive base (sometimes 1-2 secondary controls)

• Secondary Driver– Controls the manipulators/scoring mechanisms

• Human Player– Responsible for the human aspect of the game

• Backup Driver(s)• Backup Human Player/Human Player Coach

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Choosing Your Drive Team

Your drive team is not a group of people driving a robot, they are representative of your team.

“I can train a monkey to drive a robot, but I cant train it to be a leader” - JVN

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Choosing Your Drive Team

• Field Coach– The field coach has the most difficult job in the

whole team– Mentor vs. Student debate

• Doesn’t really matter• Choose the most experienced, responsible,

mature, dedicated member of your team to be the coach

• Former drive team experience is crucial to success

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Choosing Your Drive TeamDriver• Should be chosen based on their character traits rather then

competitive ability, age or rank• The drivers should be chosen at the same time• Keep in mind the “chemistry” between drive team members

When choosing drivers, use criteria like:1. Communication skills2. Focus under pressure3. Ability to handle stress4. Strategic mind (not going to push the robot/team past its limits)5. Reaction time6. Driving skill (least important)

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Choosing Your Drive TeamHuman Player• Is the most athletic of all the members and requires

excellent communication skills• Often has to resort to proprietary signalling or hand gestures

When choosing human players, use the following criteria :1. Communication2. Dedication3. Focus4. Task Skill5. Responsibility“I don’t need to throw tubes onto the field, I’m already a human player.” –

Graciously Professional Comedy (Team 781)

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Choosing Your Drive Team

Backups• Unpredictable incidents can happen on the way

to and during FRC competitions, be prepared– Think “risk mitigation” and “redundancy”

• Depending on the skill and size of your team, have 1-2 backup drivers

• Limited drive time should be given to backups, with little to none at actual competition

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Match Timeline

What should each drive team member be doing prior, in queue, during and after every FRC match (including practice ones)?

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Match Timeline

Pre-match• Coach

– The coach should be working with other coaches, scouting crew and strategists (if applicable)

– Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of both your opponent and alliance teams

– View/talk to opponent and alliance robots to determine changes since scouting

– Meet with the other 2 coaches to devise a game plan

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Match Timeline

Pre-match• Coach (cont.)

– Ensure all coaches understand the particulars of the strategy and convey the match strategy to the rest of the drive team

– Brief the drivers on what’s about to happen

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Match Timeline

• Drivers– Drivers should not be engaged in strenuous

or stressful activities pre-match– When the coach leaves for the coaches

meeting the drivers should asses the condition of the robot to determine if the drive style needs to be modified

– Listen and understand the match strategy when briefed by the coach

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Match Timeline

Queuing:• Coach

– Discuss any last minute changes or details• Drivers

– Circle Check– Have a physical checklist and a flashlight– “Kick the tires and light the fires”– Ensure everything is in standard starting position

• Human Player– Warm up

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Match TimelineDuring:• Coachg

– Keep track of overall match strategy, time, score, opponents strategy, match objectives, alliance objectives and time, also the time

– Give constant feedback to the drivers about time, opponent/defender position and modification to the strategy

– Convey signals to the human player• Drivers

– Focus on the robot and its immediate surroundings, nothing else– Talk between drivers should be minimal and only when necessary

• (Drivers should be reasonably competent by this point)– Listen to the coach at all times, they are the boss during the match

• Human Player– Focus on the pre-match strategy and coach’s signals

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Match Timeline• Post Match:

– Coach • Review scores, scouting data, and strategist

comments about the previous match• Hold a meeting with the drivers and human player

to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the previous match

– Drivers and Human Player• This is not criticism, it is advice; leave your ego at

home for 3 days

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Driver Training

Q: How do we turn a bunch of students into lean, mean driving machines?

A: Lots of work.

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Human Player Training

• Actually pretty important• Base training around specific goals

– Build/jury-rig field parts• Use all the resources

– Physical education is a good place to start• Ensure game rules are known & followed!

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Coach Training

• Know the game inside and out– Rules, strategies, other teams on the field– Watch other regional competitions

• Know your robot inside and out– Technical limitations and capabilities

• Know the other teams

… basically, know everything

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Driver Training

• Be involved in development & UI design– Should be able to make minor repairs on the

field– The programmer does not never knows best– Joystick vs. Xbox controller, tank vs. arcade

• Be familiar with limitations of other systems• Create a realistic training environment

– Carpet is a must!• Competition time is training time

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Secondary Driver/Operator/Co-pilot

• Know everything about your system– Have a “feel” for minor adjustments– Should be second nature

• UI is a big deal (ergonomics)– Code should work for you– Build the robot and code around the driver

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Team1325.com

Bryce.Eric@gmail.comFeroz1325@gmail.com

Team 1325