[theycallhimtom]

I think we have all seen a few teams where when the robot breaks the mentors are all over the robot with students standing 5 feet back. But measuring a team just by that situation is a little unfair. Many teams I know strive to be student built but when it comes down to the last weekend of build season or 30 minutes before the next match the mentors step in to help get things done. I think that its much better if the students are in there with the mentors, but its tough to do that.

I'm from a student built team and we have managed to be very competative even against the best teams. My first year of FIRST I thought that "mentor built" teams had an unfair advantage, but since then we have had two very solid years and that really changed my opinion. A student built team that is a few years old and puts in the time isn't really at a disadvantage in my opinion.