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Unread 07-02-2017, 00:54
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Valkonn Valkonn is offline
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AKA: Paulo Garcia
FRC #3495 (Mindcraft Robotics)
Team Role: Mechanical
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Rookie Year: 2014
Location: Fresno, CA
Posts: 46
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Re: Looking for some brutally honest feedback...

>Do you have seniors who do a lot of the work on the team?

Yes, seniors make up the bulk of the knowledge and work on our team. This isn't necessarily seniors, it's just that the class of 2017 was extraordinarily large and talented. Our Freshmen-Juniors are competent enough to survive without the senior class, however. One of the greatest responsibilities seniors have is ensuring those beneath them have enough knowledge to continue improving the team in later years. The optimal situation is one in which seniors take a hands-off approach and are able to act as advisers.

>Do your mentors do a large chunk of the robot work?

No. They do 0% of the robot work and would rather let the team fail than have to step in. They provide suggestions but at the end of the day it's up to the students.

>How involved are the majority of students on your team? Do they do a lot of the work, or do mentors?

We technically have "40" students but I find that many of them could not accomplish much of anything if the rest of the team was not there to help them. There are many people who view FRC as a "social club" rather than an engineering team. It's the unfortunate case that in some years the team is a small group of core students surrounded by people who are not as engaged in learning. And as stated before, our mentors are not hands-on.

>Do your students learn more by themselves or more from other students and mentors?

Students learn from other students. We hold training sessions at the beginning of the year to teach the basics. As the season begins, freshman assist seniors/juniors and gradually pick up on skills. By the end of the season, our freshman are usually pretty competent. (At least the committed ones)

As to your specific situation, I think the problem is definitely mentor involvement. I can't fathom a team environment in which students sit on their butt while teachers are building their robot... If I were you, I would strongly suggest that your mentors take a hands-off approach and let you do the work. However, if the mentors do all the work and haven't been properly teaching you, it may be the case that your team quite literally doesn't have the skills necessary to build a robot without mentor involvement.

If that is the case, then a more gradual roll-back of mentor involvement would be necessary. Rather then having them actually building the bot, have them tell you what to do. Learn from it, and then refine upon that knowledge in the off season. The students should be able to build a robot by themselves. If they can't, then they haven't learned enough.
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