[Nemo]

If I could quantify the impact of having machining resources vs having a large budget vs having great mentors, I think the mentors would be the biggest factor.

If a team has a volunteer mentor that helps a lot with design and build, that person ought to be duly recognized as somebody who dedicates a lot of time and effort to a FIRST program. Those people are there because they believe in the program and want to help. It is unfortunate any time somebody tosses those contributions back in their faces in the form of "mentor-built" accusations.

Students on teams that have really experienced / involved / dedicated mentors should be grateful to have those people around, but they certainly should not feel guilty about it.

People should avoid assuming the worst about each other, especially in FIRST, where one is especially likely to encounter other people of outstanding character. Thus, people should avoid assuming that a great robot is the product of a group of overly competitive, bossy mentors who shove the students out of the way so they can bask in glory.

I also think that a lot of teams would be surprised to learn that even with a huge budget and nearly unlimited machining resources, it is still very difficult to produce a robot and prepare a team that competes well at the highest possible level. I'm not speaking from experience, but I am pretty certain that this is true.