Quote:
Originally Posted by tjwolter
Umm...how much would a young team learn by just copying an admittedly cool robot? We are supposed to be training Engineers not RetroEngineers. Or strictly speaking, just well trained Robot Jockeys.
As a mentor I would be much happier with a crazy, innovative but ultimately less or even unsuccessful design.
T. Wolter
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As I reread my own post, I realize the "too proud" bit came off a little harsh. The reason I worded it as such and agree with that sentiment is because I have fallen victim to that mistake. You mention a crazy, innovative robot that ends up being less successful. I've built one of those, and I'm immensely proud of it. Our 2015 bot was very unique in design and execution, but it wasn't near as successful as we hoped or thought. But I still learned a lot from designing and building that robot, and I'm not trying to discourage those designs. However, our 2014 bot was neither innovative or successful. It was just poorly designed and even more poorly built. I learned very little from that robot, and I wish I could go back and borrow more heavily from Ri3D or many other resources that I now know about to develop the base of the design for that year.
Either way, I think it's all a moot point if the students aren't taught the engineering behind any of those decisions. If students decide to borrow heavily from Ri3D, then the mentors can use that opportunity to teach the students how and when to "steal from the best," and when to "invent the rest." Then they can teach students how to optimize their design and iterate to improve performance and reliability. If students decide to strike it out on their own and go with a very innovative design, then the mentors should take that opportunity to teach better prototyping skills to iron out all the unknowns of a unique design. Then they can teach students how to compete and exist in a niche and how to market themselves as a unique and innovative solution.
So in the end, I think it's just two different situations that the mentors can take advantage of and teach the students valuable skills through different scenarios.