[Alexander McGee]

These threads have been around a lot this season. Am I the only one noticing this?

On one side, we have the distressed students trying to understand how some teams operate. What appear to be “engineer built” bots are at every regional, and generally place highly at nationals. On the other hand, we have the dedicated engineers and mentors who make all this happen, defending their level of involvement.

To the students: take a good look at the teams that you think are built by engineers. Sure, there are some teams where the students hardly touch the robot at all. We have all witnessed the familiar scene in the pits where the students stand idly by while three or four adults are working on the robot. However, many very excellent teams have major, if not complete student involvement. Keep that in mind. Talk to these students on these teams; find out what they learned, what they know, and how they “did it”.

To my fellow mentors and engineers: Keep doing what you are doing, but take a look at yourself along the way. There is a reason that this is called a “high school” robotics competition, and there is a reason that high-school students are required to drive the robots. Inspiration is one thing, but handing students fabricated parts and having them bold them together is not what this is all about. Let them get their hands dirty, let them do the engineering. It is, after all, just a game. Let the students be involved. How much they do is up to you, but don’t ever withhold an opportunity to teach a student something new. Don’t let this become a hobby, do it for the right reasons.

See you all at nationals!