UNgracious UNprofessionalism

[Racer26]

Nice to see that someone on 159 'gets it'. I would have expected as much from such a team. I only hope you can get the message across to the others.

I know how much I've struggled internally in my own teams to get them to stop looking at 1114/2056 like they have an unfair advantage. Yes, they have an advantage, but the important question is why do they have that advantage? (they worked hard for it) and how do we acquire similar things such that we can compete on the same level? (work hard).

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

In all the threads that discuss mentor-built robots, not once have I read an explanation as to WHY this is bad. It is just generally assumed to be wrong by most, and the debate becomes whether or not the mentor-built accusations are true.

The debate devolves into a question of whether the accusations are true, because simply put, if they're untrue then the argument is moot. If a "mentor-built" robot doesn't exist (and I'm fairly firmly convinced that it doesn't) then an argument about why they are bad is irrelevant.

Let's set that aside for a minute anyway. The goals of the program are to inspire young people to get involved in STEM fields. Does participating on a team with a mentor-built, winning robot do that? Yes, it does. I agree, that it is likely not the most effective way, but it DOES achieve the goals. I know of exactly ZERO teams that operate this way. Much less the most successful teams among us.

Every example of those top echelon of teams that get painted with the 'mentor-built' brush that I can think of, in actuality, are the teams who've fostered some of the strongest relationships with their sponsors, and have students and mentors working together better than any other teams. I would count 67, 118, 148, 217, 254, 1114, 2056, and many more in this group.

I speak all this as an 11 year participant in FRC that has never won a blue banner in 17 regional events + 1 FIRST Championship (registered through the waitlist) of competition (attended 20 regionals+CMP+6xOffseasons).

1075 won 2 offseasons, both in 2008, with a robot that was, for all intents and purposes, a clone of Simbot SS.

I feel this taught us an important lesson: that with our relatively modest fabrication abilities, we were able to successfully build a machine with a proven winning design, and then go and win with it. What we needed to do to have more success at the official events was to iron out the design process.

I'm still learning. First with 1075, and now with 4343. I watch 1114 and 2056 (and the others like them) incessantly. I occasionally engage their members to learn about the inner workings of their teams. I DO agree with many posters that find some members of 1114 and 2056 seem cold and uninterested in conversation, but I suspect that this is an artifact of being bombarded by constant accusations of not playing fair. Some of their members are much better at 'rising above the hate' than others, to which I say: They're humans. They're not perfect. Additionally, talking to them at competitions, while easiest, is also the highest stress time for them. They have high expectations, and a reputation of being the best to uphold. Catch them on a lunch break, or in the offseason, and they're much more approachable.

Like Karthik frequently quotes:

Originally Posted by Vince Lombardi

Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence.