Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe G.
You bring up an interesting question. Are these the most valuable skills that students can generate through the FIRST program? Answer as you will, but I'd answer with a resounding "no."
I would much rather have my students designing parts, than building parts based on someone else's drawings. I'd rather have my parts manufactured at an outside facility, precision machined from a student's drawing, so that the students can see EXACTLY what they designed come to life. I'd rather have my students learn to prototype, design, think, and iterate. I'd rather have my students learn how to think like a software engineer, than how to punch Java code into a computer. It doesn't matter who builds the robot. It doesn't matter who drafts the robot. It matters that the students learn what it means to engineer a robot.
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For the longest time, our team was made up of about 50% kids that wanted to become mechanics, and work in a garage. Is there anything wrong with this? Not at all. Our engineering kids would work with these kids through prototyping and the final design. This method stuck, and I can't imagine doing it any other way. Not a single part was ever sent to a sponsor to cut.
Did the robot always work right? Nope. Did it look professional? Never. Did we have a blast doing it? YES. Fun=inspiration.
Engineering kids learned hands-on tool working/cutting/everything from our machinist kids, and our machinists learned how to design from the engineering kids. I think this is more valuable then designing a part, and having it sent out to get made. Of course, we have mentors, but their role wasn't that huge. They were more of a "I need to sand this tiny round piece, how should I do it?" kind of mentor. Or if something was to dangerous for a student to do for whatever reason, the mentor would do it.
Like someone else said before, its a jealousy factor. I look at other bots at the regional, and I see nice & shiny paint jobs, CNC'd bots, and professional-looking machines. Of course I wish mine looked/played like that. But honestly, I wouldn't have our build season be any other way. I like the way we do things and wouldn't change it for anything. It got me into engineering, and I'm not planning on switching majors anytime soon. Each team has their own way of doing things, some produce more successful robots then others, but its how they have fun and how their students get inspired.
2c - no haterade