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

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Is this such a bad thing? Yes, the "do whatever works" is a cop out but it's also better than the alternative. Inspiration comes in many forms and legislating how we are permitted to inspire will remove some of them.

I miss when we used to call Championships the Superbowl of Smarts. Players don't go to the Superbowl to learn. They go to showcase their best. And we watch not to learn how to throw a ball 40 yards to a receiver. We watch to see incredibly athletes performing at their peak. To see the limits of their strength, their drive, their will, and their talent. If we are supposed to be the Superbowl of Smarts people aren't going to watch us to learn how to use a CNC mill. They are going to watch us to see what we are capable of doing with our skill, drive, and passion. We need to put on a good show so that instead of saying "I can be Tim Tebow" (I honestly don't know anything about football and NEED to get a better example) they say "I can be the next Dean Kamen".

People focus way too much on the robot in FIRST.
When Dean talks about it's more than about the robot People think he's saying "I don't care about the competition" but actually I think he saying the best teams are good not just because of what they built but the whole organization surrounding the operation of the robot at the competitions. They meticulously plan every aspect of what they do, how they go about their business and what they plan to do to win the competition. As a lead que I can have gained an appreciation of these teams. For the most part they are very professional and cooperative to deal with. Disrupting the event keeps them from wining so it's in their best interest to not disrupt the event.
The teams that freak me out are the teams who show up with a barely functioning brick and wheels and that's the least of their problems.It's not that they are incompetent they have no sense of urgency in anything they do. It doesn't really matter if the robot performs well they made a robot (sort of) wasn't that the point? Nevermind that they are letting down every team who gets stuck with them during the competition and dragging them down to the bottom of the standings with them (that's why I label them Anchor Teams). I remember one team in particular at Midwest a couple of years ago. They were in the first qualification match on Saturday and were no where to be found. The national anthem is playing and they were going to start the match when it was over. They come waltzing in during the last stanza like nothing was all that big a deal while I'm trying to rush them to the field. The lead mentor looks casually down at the robot and shrugs and tells the kids "i guess we can put the robot on the cart". I had to leave so I didn't go nuts.
Elites show up early and get down to business ready to hit the field. They are aware of what's going on with the schedule and the event and unless something drastic has happened to the robot are almost always on time. That's part of the secret of their success is making sure the robot is ready to be in a position to dominate on the field before it gets to the field. A quarter of the teams have already raised the white flag before they even got to the arena and it has nothing to do with who built the robot.