Fundamental skill sets for FTC / FRC

[BSV]

Greetings,

I'm new to mentoring FTC/FRC, and am a non-engineer (I am a physical scientist and programmer in C++ and similar languages, however).

The teams I am helping have a coach / teacher, but not many existing outside mentors (if any at all)! I want to help them make the right connections so that they can learn from experienced professionals or others who reasonably understand the processes. From my observations of FRC and FTC the last couple of years, I am guessing that these skills are the basic requirements for those two programs (some more in FRC than FTC) if you want to have a successful team:

• Understanding of the engineering process
• CAD design
• Electrical / wiring
• Engineering (chassis / manipulator)
• Programming, including sensor feedback
• rapid prototyping ability
• machine shop / general tool skills
• media / social media
• marketing / fundraising
• web site design
• scouting / strategy
• awards preparation

What am I missing, or have I over-emphasized? We're putting together a multi-year strategy to improve the robotics program, so we want to convey all the important areas to our school leadership as well as have a firm idea of the types of mentors we should be looking for.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!