[Madison]

Originally Posted by Patrick Chiang

Not going to name names, but there *are* teams out there where the students tell us that the mentors took over and built their robot. That isn't baseless. I mean, I can't be the only one whose heard the words "our mentor built that" uttered multiple times by a team.

Also, I agree that some teams might say it's okay if some of the kids don't know how the entire robot functions (heck, I would say not everyone in our team knows how everything works). But when more senior members of the team (people you've seen at competition multiple years) shrug when you ask them how their shooter works, it kind of puts a question mark on how well the team has been inspiring and educating the students.

Again, this is just personal opinion.

The point is that it absolutely doesn't matter - at all - who built the robot, in whole or in part. Both methods are effective.

I know the teams in this area pretty well and I can't fathom which teams you may be talking about. Maybe give us all another shot and try to learn from us this time around instead of silently judging us when we don't meet the standards you are keeping a secret from us in the first place.