The thrusters on the back use the W key, the ones on the side use the A or D keys (A for the right ones, D for the left ones I believe), the ones on the front use the S key (I like being able to reverse out of tight spaces)
Also, I have found that using the shields helps my drones not be destroyed super easily, but are they absolutely necessary (just out of curiosity...)?
And, how do you make drones autonomous? I haven't gotten into the sumo stuff, but it seems kinda interesting
P.S. My computer doesn't think "thruster" is a real word