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Why Engineers are Good for FIRST
I generally try to keep out of these types of threads since they usually end up in a flame war, but I have to respond to this one. I think that having engineers involved in FIRST throughout the process is a great thing. Therefore, I'm going to give my annual presentation:
WHY ENGINEERS ARE GOOD FOR FIRST TEAMS
FIRST is about inspiring students to become interested in math, science, and technology. When I joined FIRST (7 years ago), I was told that this should be done by the students working with the engineers so that the students can see how math and science can be applied to a complex problem to come up with a great solution. In the process, the students say "gee whiz" when they see that "we're never gonna use this crap" is simply a false statement.
So, what happens when the engineers are shut out and the students to EVERYTHING? It's been my experience that high level math or engineering principles are seldom used to solve the problems. Instead, the robots are built more by trial and error, with only basic math used to maybe figure out a gear ratio here or there. In this process, there is no "gee whiz", just "boy, I guess we can do this without much math or science." It gives a false impression that things can be made "good enough" through trial and error. This doesn't inspire people to learn math and science; if anything, it has the opposite effect.
This year, I worked on the control algorithm for our autonomous controller (we had a guidance system with full feedback control). The student who we (me and Kevin) worked with on the controller seemed very inspired as we explained control systems, how they work, and how they're being applied to the robot. We then worked with the students throughout the design and development of the controller so they could see how a real life control system was designed, developed, implemented, and calibrated. I believe this was far more inspirational for the students than having a simple, open-loop dead reckoning system.
In summary, I think it's important that the students get to see that math and science can be useful, and it's important to see ways in which it can be used. If nothing else, it my goal to use FIRST so that I never EVER have to hear "we're never gonna use this crap" again, because "this crap" is actually extremely useful. As engineers, it's up to us to show HOW it's useful.
-Chris
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