[MrJohnston]

There are lots of different thoughts here and, as several have said, all teams are a little different and you'll (with other mentors?) have to figure out the path for your team....

Our team approaches things like this: The mentors will makes sure that a functional robot gets built - not necessarily a good robot or a competitive robot, but something that rolls around the floor and "tries" to help. They will also offer ideas, coaching, etc. that will give the kids the opportunity to go much further. If the kids have a really difficult concept they wish to pursue and are willing to put forth the effort to do so, the mentors will help them to get there, but the effort must be driven by the students.

Do you let the kids fail? It depends. Sometimes kids fail because they lack the know-how or skills to accomplish something. If this is the case and they are trying hard, then no: make sure they find success. This doesn't need to be a winning robot, but it should be something that allows the to enjoy playing the game. Ideally, if kids are working hard and find themselves not building the glorious robot they envisioned because they lack the engineering abilities to do so, they will be inspired to acquire those skills so that they might realize that goal the following year.

However, if the kid are failing due to apathy, lack of motivation, other priorities, etc., you might need to let them fail. However, don't make it easy for them. Have meetings with the leadership (or whole team, depending on the team's structures), and let them know that you are concerned. Offer guidance and support. Kindly make sure they understand the consequences of they choices they are making, etc. Give them multiple opportunities to self-correct. However, if at the end of the day, they just refuse to build the robot, they need to fail. I very much disagree with the idea that kids should be permitted to knowingly make poor choices and still be led to a reward.

Of course, sometimes kids are failing because they don't trust their mentors' sage advice, suggesting a disconnect. If this is the case, the primary goal of the mentors must be to re-establish the student-mentor relationship. The students might, for instance, choose a design that has no chance of success in the eyes of professional engineers.... However, being teenagers, they don't recognize that the professionals might know more than they do and insist on moving forward with their design. On our team, we approach such a situation like this: As mentors, we agree to support their misguided attempts and do whatever we can to help them to be successful in their pursuit of said failing principle. However, at the same time, we insist that they, with mentor guidance, also pursue a back-up plan that will succeed. Simply put: Sometimes kids need to be confronted with their own lack of expertise before they are willing to trust those who are veritable experts.

I wish you well. It is always tough on an entire team when leadership dynamics are not working well. And, yes, mentors are necessarily a part of the leadership of a team.