FRC2023-2024: Crescendo

Lessons Learned

Drive Team

Driver: Noah Fang

DISCLAIMER

Nothing in this guide is set in stone. FRC is constantly evolving and there are many cases on the field where you can't follow this. At the end of the day, use your best judgment.

General

1. AVOID PROTECTED ZONES: This is important as a driver: getting fouls from protected zones is one of the easiest ways to get on a DO NOT PICK list. There are exceptions, and if there are no opposing robots nearby and it will benefit your alliance then maybe go for it, but this should be done sparingly.
2. AVOID SPINNING TOO MUCH: While spinning is cool and a useful tool for avoiding defenders, it slows you down. Don't spin if you don't need to.
3. AVOID BREAKING WHAT DOESN'T NEED TO GET BROKEN: Try not to break things. Given the nature of the sport it will sometimes happen on the field, but try to avoid excessive damage. The easiest way to do this is to use Turtle Mode. In many of our robots that extend outside of the frame perimeter, this mode is used to retract everything inside to avoid damage while traveling at high speed or cross-field. Note that while on the practice field it is okay to overcompensate to avoid damage, while playing make sure that you're overly cautious to the detriment of your cycle times.

Practicing

1. EVERY ALLIANCE DRIVER STATION: You should know how to score in all possible goals from every driver station, and practice doing so before competition. Not doing so will be detrimental to your performance because you don't get to choose driver stations until playoffs.
2. PREPARE FOR THE WORST: You should be ready to fall back to the basics if part of your robot fails, whether that be your auto score software, a critical mechanism, pneumatic pressure, or anything else. You should know how to score manually and how to perform effective defense.
3. PRACTICE THE THINGS YOU NEED TO IMPROVE: Don't just keep practicing full matches or cycles. If you recognize a portion of a cycle you need practicing on, like intaking, traversing, or scoring, you should focus your practice on that section. Making effective use of your practice time will lead to the largest improvements in your driving.
4. PRACTICE MULTIPLE PATHS: When practicing by yourself, it may be easy to just use the easiest path or scoring location. In real matches, you don't get that luxury. You're playing with 5 other robots using the same space, so try to vary your pathing when running cycles during practice.
5. EXPERIMENT: When practicing, your current strategy may not be the best for cycles. Make sure to try different ones and measure the results. Another great way to look for strategies is to go onto YouTube or Chief Delphi and look for analysis or strategy postings.

Playing With Others

1. DON'T INTERFERE: DO NOT--under any circumstances--interfere with your alliance partners. This is incredibly important. "Interference" means blocking incoming robots or slowing them down. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but try to make sure that this is incredibly rare. This usually comes down to having a preset path that you follow, and coordinating that with your alliance partners before the match.
2. SET YOUR STRATEGY: Someone on your drive/strategy team should be talking to your alliance partners at least 10 minutes before your match. Cover Auto strategies and make sure you don't interfere. Go over Teleop pathing and define everyone's roles. Make sure to also cover Endgame: where they should be for what tasks, and when they should be there. Good strategy can be the difference between a clear victory and a shattering defeat.

Anti-defense

1. SPIN: When going against an opponent who’s defending against you, the main tool at your disposal spinning. Spin in the direction such that you are essentially trying to “spin around your opponent.” This reduces robot-to-robot contact and allows you to maneuver around them. Practice this before competition.
2. USE PROTECTED ZONES: Use the protected zones by trying to score and stay in them. However, make sure not to sacrifice cycle time for safety: still try to score outside of them if you're not at risk of defense from an opposing robot.

Defense

1. IDENTIFY CHOKE POINTS: Places where you know the robots will tend to funnel towards are your targets. These should be identified with the strategy head of your alliances before competitions.
2. GET BETWEEN THEM: Stay between them and their goal, trying to copy their movements.
3. SPIN V2: Anti-anti-defense is where you spin to counter their spinning: you spin in the opposite direction (like meshing gears) to counteract their spin. Practice this before competition.
4. AVOID PROTECTED ZONES: Arguably the most important part (and the part where so many teams mess up) is to make sure not to touch or enter zones that are protected. If you do, you WILL receive the respective foul.
5. DON'T DEFEND AGAINST YOUR ALLIANCE PARTNERS: This is one of the worst things that can happen. If you are playing defense, don't set it up in a way that you'll impede your own alliance partners. Doing this repeatedly is a sure-fire way to land on a DO NOT PICK list.

Other

1. VISIBILITY: This might seem very nuanced, but when choosing which side of your alliance driver station, make sure that you have visibility of your targets. Priority is usually given to the driver, but it depends on who controls what and where.
2. EVERYBODY WORKS FOR YOU: At the end of the day, you represent your alliance's work on the field. So, if something's off, TELL THEM. Nothing will get fixed if you don't, and it may get worse. This is also the case for any weird controls you don't like, mechanical inconveniences, or anything else. The control setup is supposed to adapt to you, not the other way around! Tell the relevant subteam what you want changed, and pester them until they fix it!

Quotes

• StormBots: The strategic truth is that when given a choice, drivers do not e-stop their bots. With an e-stop, you forfeit any chance to regain control, even at a diminished level. You also set your bot up for significant foul points should you get nudged into foul zones. If there are any actual safety concerns, the FTAs handle them. Drive teams are focusing on strategic concerns, and that’s “do literally anything but die on the field”.

 [Titan] We agree, but with the exception that we remain GP and that the rules allow it.

• Practice like you’ve never won. Perform like you’ve never lost: When practicing, nothing should be left to chance. If you think defensive robots will be present, practice anti-defense. If there are anticipated problems with the robot, make sure you know how to work around them. But on the field, be confident: the only thing you’re doing on the field is running cycles. Don’t worry about what the crowds doing, etc. Just focus and be confident in your abilities.