Wow, this is a big thread... I guess it's gone a little off topic, but maybe I can bring it back
My team is (semi) unique because:
We have no large corporate sponsor... we have tens of small business sponsors.
We have students from 4 high schools, spanning two states (including two intense rival schools), plus several home-schooled kids.
Everything we do is done largely by the students -- no professional engineers doing all the designwork.
We've gone through 2 generations of coaches (even 3 head coaches) since the team began in '97.
elyse71: And we're very familiar with the robotics-becomes-dating-service syndrome...