[theycallhimtom]

At 1540 we have a strict rule that mentors do none of the work on the robot in any way. The mentors are there mainly to steer us away from really bad ideas, and to be able to answer questions that might arise. We have student "managers" of each department (software, fabrication, design, control systems, etc...) who organize all of the other students. The managers also spend their time during the off season training new members.

I think the biggest effect of being a student built team is that there is no safety line. If we are really far from finishing 5 weeks into the build season the students have to put in the time to get things done. While this could lead to a disaster, it really makes the students step up because it is our project.

My personal view is that in a perfect world all teams would be student built, but its hard for many teams to be student built. Having a team that is somewhat built by mentors isn't bad, and its certainly better than no team at all. But I think that students learn more when its them doing all the work.