Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Leppard
Let’s remember FIRST is to motivate the kids to “a new kind of hero”. I have seen bots built by all kids and almost no mentors, and then go out there and get killed. And other teams the mentors deliver a finished bot with kids never touching it and the team does great. Which motivates the kids more?
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Yes I have seen student build robots that have a tough time competing year after year. But I have been involved in a student built/run team for 4 years, a team that has been successful for 7 years in FIRST. Mentors don't touch the bot, and this is the first year we let them touch the software a bit, and we have been very successful on and off the field (chairmans, 2 EI's, multiple other awards, missed the eliminations only 3/13 times). So yes teams that are student run can be just as successful as mentor driven teams, but I agree that it is less frequent.
/On Topic
But after all that we do have one main engineering mentor, who I view as the perfect mentor, he is a retired electrical engineer who helps guides us during the design process and has been with us for all 7 years. He lets us make our own mistakes, he is only there maybe 1/3 of the time, so we never get into a situation where we rely on his information. He helps us when we ask him, never enforcing his opinion over ours.
/Off Topic
I am really interested to know how other teams work, because I really I believe strongly in having the students as the “a new kind of hero.” Letting the mentors to guide the students, I still strongly believe this is a High School Robotics Competition....