As with (probably) all other teams, in our 9 year history we have always had the balance of the "truly interested" vs. the "hangers on".
Our early years had enrollments in the 40's, with probably less than 30 who were actually consistent participants. Lately we've had rosters in the 30's, including a few "hangers on", with relatively good results. THIS year we only have 2 seniors (
), and a larger than usual recruitment, so next year we might be pushing records for 811! Which, if we play it right, might not be a bad thing: The last few years we've always run out of bodies long before we ran out of tasks, and as a result we tended to ship robots with less features or abilities than we desired.
The biggest concern with larger numbers is, of course, how to accentuate the "truly interested" while minimizing the "hangers on". The solution is mentors: They have to keep things moving, develop and maintain a schedule, and keep people busy (and not just with "busy work").
So here's a new line of debate: What's the ideal team size, in students? Using our structure as a guide:
- Mechanical: 5-10 (based on student abilities and robot capabilities)
- Electrical: 3-4
- Software: 2-6 (based on autonomous capabilities)
- Strategy: 3-4
- Drive team: 3-6 (one or two drive teams)
- Marketing: 2-4
- 3D Animation: 2-4
So ideally 811 could function with between 20 and 40 students. (Hey, looks like we've been doing it right all along!
)