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Originally Posted by seanwitte
Of the two bad options, how can anyone pick Mentor Designed/Student Built? Do we want students leaving the program to feel like engineers or machinists? In the current global economy, which do you think is more valuable: the person designing the product or the person building it? I would rather see a team spend 5 weeks on design, have THEIR parts made for them, and spend a day assembling than spend 1 week on design and the rest at the mill. Fabrication is fun and rewarding and requires skill, but it should not be the primary focus.
That said, FIRST is not life. As an adult volunteer its fun to get in there an get my hands dirty since its not part of my regular job. I'm sure most other adults feel the same way. The third obvious, but unavailable, answer is full collaboration throughout the lifecycle.
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Alright then, here's a hypothetical situation for the two bad answers:
Rookateam just started this year. They have no clue what they're supposed to build. Their engineerig sponsor, Bigasponsor, has sponsored another team in the past, and knows what the average robot for FIRST looks like.
Who probably should design a basic concept, Rookateam's student members who have no idea nothing about engineering and will have Bigasponsor build off their plans, or Bigasponsor's engineers who know what they're doing and will have Rookateam build off their plans?
Learning through mistake takes much more time than learning through example, and the mistakes have probably already been made by others who are willing to share their lessons.