Students in the Drive Zone

Competition/Game
1

We had a wonderful match in Austin and I was so impressed by the field, judges and logistics of the event - what a great time! I know how hard it is to get all those field operations running smoothly and the league should be very proud of the quality of the event.

The only wrinkle came with some confusion re: the number of students in the drive zone. Most teams had 9-10 students in the drive zone, however at one point the judges became concerned and thought the rules limited the number of students in the drive zone to 7. We got that straightened out and came up with a workable solution for everyone, which was to allow 10 students into the drive zone, but have three of them stand behind the primary 7.

For future competitions it would be ideal to get this rule clarified and consistent. Based on the experiences of the teams in the Austin regional, it appears that there are roles for up to 10 students in the drive zone because of field coordination, monitoring of laptops and leadership and the only practical limit to the number of students I can see is the need for the judges to be able to clearly see the field as well. In a perfect world, I’d prefer to have no limit at all.

Note: The only rules about operations appears to be 5.3.3. which says that one student cannot fulfill more than one role (i.e. a Sphero driver cannot also pilot the RVR, etc.) but puts no limits on the number of students in the drive zone.

Can we create a clarification to the rules so it is something we can all plan around?

Thank you!

2

David - Thanks for that feedback and just FYI, we had the same wrinkle at the UTA events. We are currently working to clarify the rules and will post it on the Forum before this weekend. Glad to hear that Austin was a great success! More to come!

3

Hello,

Is there any update on the amount of drive team members allowed in the match? If there would be at least 8 or 9 to allow for a DEXI copilot that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

4

Shivam (and David) - Sorry for the long delay on this response. Looking back on the Austin events, we agree that the same requirement will be used for the Championship event which will be a maximum of 10 students on the Drive Zone with 7 primary drivers up front and up to 3 support students behind the primary 7.