Does the herding rule count during drivers skills ?( in possession of more than 3 game objects )
Yes, Yes it does
Holding, carrying more than 3 buckyballs is certainly illegal and if it is match affecting can be grounds for disqualification. I believe what you are thinking of is situations where a robot instantaneously bumps into buckyballs while already holding three and does not actively control them after bumping them. On various Q&A posts the vex game design committee has clarified that in these situations where SG8 uses the word ‘intentionally’ the action would be intentional (and therefore illegal) if programmed in autonomous, but not as strictly interpreted in driver control/skills where it is to judge the intent of the action.
Yes the herding rule is in force during driver skills, but it’s lenient. You need to be intentionally pushing buckyballs in a desired direction AND not in the process of some other action AND the buckyballs must stay with the robot as it moves.
You will do better in driver skills if you use this rule to your advantage. I would recommend finding the relevant Q+A threads and reading them thoroughly. If you design a run that takes advantage of any Q+A rulings, print out those threads and take them to your competitions. It’s perfectly ok to dispute a ruling and show a referee the relevant Q+A thread, but be respectful and remember that they can’t review video evidence.