[LeelandS]

We don't stop them, but for a different reason than just "they're fun".

Before the "mature" brainstorming session, we open up the floor for ridiculous ideas. We openly tell the students (and mentors) to throw out any over-the-top ideas they can think of. One students suggested strapping a rocket to the back of the robot and just driving up the side of the pyramid.

The reason we have team members throw out these ideas is that the most ridiculous ideas can have just a bit of brilliance in them. We thought about that student's suggestion and thought... "Why can't we just drive up the side?" This led us to brainstorming, prototyping, and designing a climbing system very similar to 118's mechanism from their reveal video. We had the system mostly ready to go before abandoning it. We're just not a team with the resources to make it work.

Don't discount the ridiculous suggestions. I guarantee, one of the "legendary" teams got their first incredible design off of a "dumb" suggestion. Just remind students that when the time to work comes, to be focused on the task. Once they've been properly introduced into the program and understand that this is the one time where adding flamethrowers and buzzsaws doesn't solve your problems, things should simmer down. But NEVER toss out the ridiculous suggestions.

As for strengthening "prior knowledge", I find off-season events to be your best friend. There is no substitute for seeing FRC live and in-action. Use an off-season event as both a way to improve your existing students, and kick start your new students. If you don't have the money, time, or interest to attend an off-season event, introduce them to the program in length. Something I've wanted to try for years is to do a presentation of different FIRST games and give the students examples on "How to do robots" by showing them the best robots of that year. In short, experience is the best way to handle this.