Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Freeman
Another powerful thing mentors bring is experience. Yes, real world engineering experience...but more importantly in FRC, the best experience is actual FRC robot design experience. Knowledge of the motors, electronics, gearboxes...where they can be used, how strong or rigid something needs to be. Great students can influence a team for a little bit, but mentors help keep a team strong over a long period of time...which is what is needed to become a "powerhouse" team.
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This. Although I wouldn't count us in the top tier of teams, we're definitely on our way there. A number of our design decisions this year were made based on successful designs of the past and knowledge of team history (particularly, designs we've done).
With regards to the difference between actual FRC robot design and real-world design, I couldn't agree more with how useful familiarity with the FRC components is. When we went with mecanum drive last year, our electrical mentor (who we regard as a demigod) pushed us to use Jaguars, because he was confident that the Victor's measly 120Hz refresh rate would hamper effective driving, but we ended up discovering that it was perfectly sufficient, and seeded higher at CMPs than we ever had before. It ended up that his familiarity with real-world applications, and unfamiliarity with FRC applications, while extraordinarily valuable, ended up backfiring on us and cost us valuable time in build season.