[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Mr. Van

It seems that many people are missing the real issues here. It's far, far less about money than it is about two other things.

First the minor one: Space to practice. Yes, I know that some teams perform well having nothing less than a classroom with a low ceiling to practice in, but having space for a full practice field or even a full competition field is a huge advantage. In some places, this real estate is by far the greatest donation a team has. It doesn't make sense to build a practice robot or even have access to your competition robot if you have no space to practice with it.

But the most important "resource" any team has is MENTORS skilled and experienced in doing this robotics thing. Specifically MENTORS who have TIME. I would argue that this is most likely the single difference between "powerhouse" teams and struggling teams in terms of their performance on the field. FRC is a game of mentors. For some teams, it is a struggle to get 60 mentor-hours during the 6 week build season and then they show up at a regional. Other teams have up to FIFTY TIMES more mentor-hours starting well before kickoff and on through the competition season.

If you don't have the mentors who can spend the time away from their jobs/families/schooling/other commitments, it doesn't matter what your other resources are. In order to buy the time with a practice robot, you have to have the time in the first place.

I, for one, would like to see a "build one, bring one, no withholding" system, but even then, the difference will be the mentors each team has.

- Mr. Van
Coach, Robodox

Definitely going to 3rd this.