Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, but is there a rule against spotters during the Drivers Skills Challenge?
To clarify, the driver has to stay in the designated driving area, but can another team member stand else where and feed them info about their aim and such?
I am running the Skills field at our National Tournament and just want to make sure I know the rules.
TIA
This is my unofficial answer, however, if you want an official ruling, please post in the Q&A, which I strongly recommend you do.
First, note that from the game manual in the Tournament Section, rule T02 states:
The only people from a Team permitted by the playing field are the three Drive Team Members who are identified by their drive team badges. These badges are interchangeable, but not during a Match.
However, in the skills tournament manual, it states
Please note that all rules from “The Game” section of the manual apply to the Robot Skills Challenge, unless otherwise specified.
This means that rule T02 would not apply in the skills challenge, as this rule is from the tournament section of the rules and not the game section of rules.
Even though there is no clear mention against the situation you are suggesting, I personally do not recommend using this strategy. It is also possible that the event partner would not allow this as additional team members may get in the way of event staff/ volunteers trying to run skills.
I recommend reviewing all rules from both the game manual as well as the skills tournament manual found here. I hope this helps.
I would use the definition of Drive Team member from Game Manual:
Drive Team Member – Any of the three (3) Students allowed in the Alliance Station during a Matchfor each Team. Only Drive Team Members are allowed to touch the controls at any time during theMatch or interact with the Robot as per <G5>. Adults are not allowed to be Drive Team Members.
and in the skills manual:
- Touching an Alliance Starting Tile. Teams may elect to start in either color Alliance Starting Tile. However, Drive Team Members must remain in the Alliance Station that corresponds to the Alliance Starting Tile in which their Robot started the Match.
So no one else may be outside the Alliance Station acting in an active manner, as such they are in violation of being outside the Alliance Station or exceed the number permitted Drive Team Members.
Pretty clear to me before first cup of coffee 
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