[efoote868]

Having been the lead programmer on a student driven team, as a mentor now I try to be as hands off as possible.

I haven't wrote a piece of code for FIRST robotics since 2008, and I don't intend to anytime soon. My role on the team is now more of a consultant, and I want to keep in that way. As a mentor, I've been much more flexible to interface with underclassmen, those that aren't the lead programmers. I'm also able to talk with the mechanical team, to make sure that they're thinking about sensors and wiring considerations.

This weekend was the most I've been involved with the robot itself, I helped the lead programmers with a bit of control theory. In about an hour and a half, I helped them solve a problem they spent several days on. I feel this is my position as a mentor, to facilitate learning and to act as a guide when the students are having trouble.

I understand that this is a hot button issue, but only when you lose sight of FIRST's goals. Sure, the competition is fun and the robots are great, and everyone wants to do well. But in the end, it doesn't matter if your robot makes it onto Einstein or if you make a bar-stool on wheels, as long as students learned something.