At what point does it become unacceptable for a mentor to design/build the robot

[Jon Stratis]

We know we've crossed the line when the students tell us. We crossed the line in 2008, and the students pulled us back halfway through the season. Since then, we've done much better. It's best when the students can be up front with the mentors about what they want. Ours always are.

Personally, I always cringe when our students say "do we want to go with this idea we had, or do we want to go with mentor X's idea?" Unfortunately, that's part of the development process - anyone can have an idea, and a 7 year mentor knows more than the students. We explore every idea equally, and if I present an idea to the students, I don't say "we should do this instead." I say "I had an idea that would get around this specific problem you guys are having with the current favorite idea." I explain the idea, and then walk away - I let them (with the help of other mentors, if needed) evaluate the idea and rank it with he other ideas. I don't stick around to push my idea over theirs.

In the end, it's up to the students and the mentors to figure out the balance that works best for them. If students join the team and decide to leave because of the atmosphere or interaction, there's a problem.