[Mark Sheridan]

I don't see how people think creativity happens in a vacuum. You need influences! its been proven many time that more influences promote creativity. There is a whole chapter on this in Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. That's the easiest source I can cite.

Pablo Picasso as a student would practice by copying masterpieces. He was learning how to paint skillfully but also deconstruct the works' artistic elements. Those influences drove him to be completely creative and make cubism masterpieces.

Even without RI3D, there are influences on your creative process, knowledge from your education, past FRC robots, the car you drive and pretty much everything. Being creative is about harnessing those influences. Are you going to copy, riff on those variations or maybe throw it away? these are the skills students have to develop. You can't shut out the outside world and think they are going to have a unique perspective. Personally, I would be pretty upset if my students only looked at RI3D, but they don't. Some like cars, some have taken physics, some dug up a bunch of random videos of machines, some watch RI3d, some watch the Einstien matches of 08, some watch mythbusters and etc. Each bring their own perspective, their own mix of ideas. Some want to be outside the box as far a possible, some explore the box thoroughly.

I don't think shutting out influences makes you more creative. You have to learn how to analyze them. filtering all this is difficult. you will find that teams that use proven solutions often are creative but they simply did not have the wherewithal to test the unknowns.