[dtengineering]

As a rookie mentor I remember commenting on the number of "balding, beer-bellied students" working on robots in the pits, and commenting that "that robot couldn't have been built by students." As a veteran mentor, inspector and judge, I see things somewhat differently. Now when I hear people talk about "student-built" robots vs. "mentor-built" robots two stories come to mind:

Story 1:

A student joined our team as a grade 10. He had an uncanny ability with the lathe, but couldn't design a part to save his life. We had to show him what to do, step by step, but he produced a quality product and enjoyed doing it.

He kept taking metal work and picked up skills on the mill and started to practice up his TIG welding. By the end of the year he didn't need step by step instructions... a good drawing would suffice.

As a grade 11 we (the mentors) would give him drawings of what we wanted and he would turn, mill and weld the part to spec. By the end of the year he would suggest changes to our drawings so that he could produce the part more easily.

In grade 12 he was our lead driver and team captain. He would bring drawings in, we would suggest changes, and he would show other students how to manufacture the parts.

The year after he graduated he would come back after work (he was doing an automotive mechanics apprenticeship... not everyone needs to go to university to be awesome) and would work with the rest of the team to design and build major components of the robot. Often his solutions to the problems were better than mine.

Story #2:

A neighbouring team used to take part in a local robotics competition. They decided to give FRC a try. After two years of FRC they went back to their local competition... using what they had seen in FRC they designed their robot in Solidworks, ordered some appropriate COTS parts, and had major components cut on a waterjet. (They negotiated time on the waterjet as part of a sponsorship package... something else they had picked up from other FRC teams.) Their machine looked awesome and blew away their competition, many of whom complained that their robot was "too professional".


The moral of the stories is that if you think that students can't build an awesome, professional-looking, competitive machine... you just haven't met the right students. (or you haven't shown them how to do it right...)