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Unread 14-01-2017, 10:50
mr_yes mr_yes is offline
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FRC #1248 (The TITANium Allies)
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Re: Robot in 3 Days 2017

Quote:
Originally Posted by tjwolter View Post
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.
I agree with the sentiment, and I think *most* mentors will agree with you and, hopefully, work to put more learning into the program. However, there are always exceptions. My take is that Robot In 3 Days is a resource, a tool which can be used in good ways and bad ways. I'm going to encourage our students to watch the reveal videos now that they have had a week of prototyping under their belt. We'll discuss the merits of the different designs and the philosophies behind them. We've already committed to most aspects of our design, so it won't change it much.

I can remember once hearing a student from a well-funded, perennially-successful team say, "we were so excited when the engineers from [corporate sponsor name] come to show us how to drive the robot." What kind of learning is that? But I wouldn't ban corporate sponsorships, because most teams don't use them that way.
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