The robot is great, but the fact that is only contolled by a human is what makes it special. I've always been interested in robotics and have read a lot about then and built two small ones. (Not that they were very good
) When I first heard about FIRST, I thought, "That's not real robotics, they are remote controlled." I found out later that there is autonomous time, but the point is still the same. At least in my mind, a robot is a robot because it can function on its own.
Like DeltaCoder said, it helps that I'm a programmer.
Helping a team out who isn't so good at programming is ok, but giving them the code doesn't help them learn how to do it next time.