[Jstack14]

I do agree with some of what you are saying, but to me many teams still miss the critical studnet aspect. The team i am on prides ourself in the fact we are 100% student Built and 100% student designed. When we say this we don't mean students do all the work, but student make the final decisions, and students d othe actual construcition. I remember one meeting where me and 2 engineerings sat and ran numbers through excel to caculate the best gear ratio for our minibot to climb at the fastest rate. WE considered motor efficency, gravity, slippage of the wheel, and a whole lot of other factors. I, the student, intiated this and had mentors help check my physics. This is a great example where engineers checked my math and taught me a few things that i didn't consider, but stilll i the STUDENT did the work. I think that is the value of force. Mentor's mentoring students. For me, a 100% student built and designed robot means the students make the tough decisions and do the construction. Our team's CAD model is completley done by students. We brainstorm as a team, prototype, design, test, and build our robot. When i see a robot where it is clear the mentor drew upo the cad designs, machined the parts, and then i see mentors assembling it, i feel as if studnets on that team lost part of FIRST. Yes it isn't just about the robot, it is about the process. And for that reason, it is important students are very involved in the design process and decision making, as well as construction. That process has been crucial to my understanding of how to properly engineer something.

FIRST is different because its a safe enviorment for students to create form the ground up something great. They are missing out if they don't design and engineer fully, and they also are missing out if they let others design it for them.