You are proposing that engineers be taken out of the entire build period. Without engineers, I'm sure that many teams, especially rookie teams trying to get off the ground, will be left completely in the dark. Although it is not entirely beneficial to the team if an engineer is left to build the whole robot, pulling engineers out of the whole build period is also detrimental because without an engineeer, the team is losing a valuable resource of knowledge and experience. I do see your point about gear ratios, but it is not the fault of the engineer if the members of the team do not know the specific details of the robot.

At SVR, a judge (sorry...forgot your name) with whom my team was having a discussion specifically told my team that engineer involvement is an integral aspect of FIRST. The leaders of FIRST probably would much rather see a robot built by students who cooperated with an engineer rather than a robot that is entirely student built.

The purpose of an engineer is not limited to motivation. In fact, almost every bit of robotic knowledge on my team was acquired through the teaching skills, guidance, and experience of engineers and parents. The engineers aren't just building a robot while we eat popcorn and watch. Our engineers teach us what is possible with robotics and challenge us to think of new and creative ways to achieve a goal. Eliminating the engineer to allow the students an opportunity at firsthand learning is like pulling the teacher out of a classroom and asking the students to teach themselves calculus.

We are after the hat, Matt.