[EricH]

I'm with the others--you won't find much support here.

I mentored a team with a grand total of 6 mentors (many of whom weren't always there). We had a lousy record in qualifying and weren't picked, yet the students had a load of fun, even with the mentors getting their hands on the robot from time to time.

I graduated from a team that had more mentors than students for some time. I still had a load of fun. And the mentors were doing about half the work on the robot, but the students were doing the other half. (I think I'm slightly overestimating the mentors' involvement.) Successful? Yes. Fun? YES!!!!

If you go and read those other threads (a search for "mentor-built" or "student-built" should turn up a few), you will find two things in common--they have a tendency to get locked, and nobody really cares other than the thread starter. One of the goals of FIRST is INSPIRATION, and around here, it seems like most people don't really care how the students are inspired.

And if there is a team there that truly is mentor-built, it just makes it that much sweeter when your student-built/combination-built robot beats them.