[Chris is me]

My apologies for the derailing conversation; I probably should have taken this to PMs. Great Reveal Night, I regret that we were too not-done to send in a video this year, lots of great teams this year.

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

I admit I haven't and I'm not trying to start an arguement. My point was not to go after them particular but elite teams in general no student built can compete with a mentor built bot. Period.

So this is a point people make all the time, that I'm sure a few dozen people will respond to with the commonly repeated, but still very valid, points. That FIRST isn't about students building robots, it's about inspiring students; that "100% mentor built" teams actually tend to be some of the 'worst' (least competitive) teams, not the best; that kids wouldn't want to *be* on a team where they didn't do anything; that constantly making these accusations undermines the sacrifice and hard work of thousands of bright students across the country every year; that FIRST is about the student-mentor partnership first and foremost; that people saying this crap are arrogant enough to think anyone better than them must be cheating.

Here's a different angle. I'm a mentor, and I know enough that I could probably try to build my own robot. I'm about to graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, this year's robot is the 7th robot I've been involved with in FRC. But building robots is really hard. We don't have a FIRST Robotics Instruction Manual anywhere that tells us what the perfect designs are, or what the best intakes look like, or what the optimal strategies are. Mentors don't have some kind of secret knowledge of how to build robots that students aren't privy to. We can't do it without the whole team, especially the students.

This year, I did a lot of design work on my team. CAD is the only thing left on my team that you can truthfully say is done mostly by mentors; even so, our team's teachers are integrating robotics lessons into the CAD coursework at the school so in future years students and mentors will work side by side in every aspect. But as a designer, I couldn't even start to do work without the excellent, detailed, iterated, student-driven prototypes. Without the incredible machinists to make really intricate parts (or to tell me "Chris, you're an idiot, that's never going to work..."), the robot wouldn't exist. Without our amazing software team, including one of the brightest students I've ever had the privilege of working with, the robot would be absolute garbage this year (if we made the same design).

And even outside of the robot, we couldn't do robotics without the whole team. Who raises thousands of dollars every year to get us supplies and two regional events? The students, with some organization done by amazing parents. Who recruits vigorously every year, growing our team size from ~16ish to ~45 in a handful of seasons? Wasn't me. Who scouts, who demonstrates the robot, who prepares Chairmans, who wires, who tests... Can you really believe half a dozen professionals really have the time to do all of that, at the very top level, without burning themselves out? No, that's ridiculous. I'm burned out and I just show up for two months and draw pictures.

Honestly? There are some mentor built teams out there. But they aren't 254, 1114, etc. Those teams need the hard work of tons of mentors, parents, AND students to do absolutely everything they do at the top level. The mentor built teams tend to be teams with... awful robots. Teams you'd hate to play with, because they don't do anything. An overzealous teacher or parent considers the robot their personal playset, and shoves kids out of the pit whenever it gets so much of a scratch. And these teams never do well, because running a robotics team is too hard for just a couple of mentors. They need the students too, and this might shock you, but students who don't get to do anything aren't exactly motivated to go above and beyond to fundraise, scout, strategize, and drive the wheels off their robots. These teams are really sad to watch if you ever run into them, and ironically, lots of their students and mentors are the ones crying 'mentor built!' about the very top teams as well.

The only way my team has gotten any good at robotics, being able to consistently hit that 80% quality (at SOME point in the season) has not been by having mentors do everything; it's been by training a complete team to learn all of the skills they need to do huge tasks themselves. And then having the great privilege of amazing kids who learn everything they can, and when you think you're too tired to go back, they keep asking you for more and more, or doing their own research for the betterment of the team. The only way to do well in FRC is to inspire your kids. That's the big secret right there, everyone.