Re: Why FIRST is different
 

On our team (in my experience) our student designers work with our engineering mentors to learn about how to engineer. I pushed that student/engineer relationship on our design team this year, and it worked out incredibly well. My CAD team and I learned about FEA, material properties, stiffness vs. strength, the pros and cons of materials, and a slew of other engineering practices (not to mention how nice a waterjet is.) I strongly encourage any/all teams (if not already doing so) to USE YOUR MENTORS. I strongly believe that this will be the best robot the Robostangs have ever had, and I know we couldn't have done it without our mentors.

To all the mentors out there, THANK YOU on behalf of your team. It's you guys that make FIRST different.