So, I am not sure what all the fuss is about. Every team can and should identify what their priorities are. (Especially if they are mentor diversity challenged, or student diversity challenged.)
- Our robot is average, but we know how to optimize every aspect of the game, and we have practiced for all contingencies. [Strategy focused]
- Our robot is mostly a kit bot with some added zip ties, but by golly we have optimized the sensing and path planning code we run, and the robot really does a 2:30 auto period [Software focused]
- Everything on our robot is beautiffully machined on a 5 axis CNC machine, every piece is custom designed, it is a mechanical marvel! [Mechanically focused]
- We are a new team, but we were able to integrate components from many different places together into a working robot that conquered obstacles and did it on a tight timeline to boot! [Systems Engineering / Integration focused]
- Etc...
- Some combination of the above as well...
I worry that I see a lot of "well, if you didn't cut, drill, tap, sand, bolt, wire, program, integrate, test and advertise that robot all by yourself, you didn't learn enough" responses. For certain teams, maybe they don't need the mechanical focus, or don't have mechanically inclined students. (Same for software, business, electrical, systems integration, whatever.) That should be OK, as there are still many aspects of STEM education involved in a FIRST challenge.
I say allow everything, and let each team decide where & how they want to focus their efforts.