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I don't think we're missing the point at all.
We, the students, built a machine with our own hands and watched it win. It would not have been the same experience with a engineer-built robot, or even with an even mix. Last year's season wasn't nearly as exciting with a primarilly engineer-built design.
When our team (and most teams) boast of 100% student-built designs, we're not saying that we didn't have mentors. We aren't saying that we, and our mentors, didn't spend countless hours learning new things. We are just saying that when the time came, the final bot was built by the students.
Nor is this to say that all we did was run mills and lathes. Sure, that's what some of the students did, and wanted to do, but we also designed the entire robot from the ground up. We were even able to win a technical award at the Philly regional. Mechanical, electrical, software - all of it was student-done.
We did have mentors present during nearly all of the build season, but they mentored. They did not do the work for us. They answered our questions, showed us how to do things, and this worked spectacularly for all students involved. I think the reason that people point this out is that so many teams go the complete other way, letting adults build practically the whole robot for them. That is missing the point of FIRST.
Either way, if you had fun and learned new things, you are doing it right. And we did it right this year.
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