Mentors not wanting to stay

[logank013]

First of all, being in the district is a good thing. In accordance of section 5.5.2 of the admin manual, you have 6 hours to work on your robot on the 7 days before a competition. So you still have 6 hours to work on your robot before your first competition.

Secondly, that is sad to hear that your mentors don't want to stay over but remember, they are volunteers, and they do need their time. My biggest tip would be to have members on your team do as much as possible at home by themselves. I'm not sure what all your team does, but try doing as much CAD, Scouting, PR, and other prep work at home. Basically, since your time at the shop is limited, only do the stuff that can only be done at the shop in that time. Make sense?

Lastly, I'm not sure if you were on the team last year but your team had a heck of a rookie season last year. You guys got to worlds last year by being good at mid season changes. Your robot started out last year pretty good but you guys made a major change part way through that let you play at an even higher level. I bet your team can do the same this year. Don't let a bad first competition performance put a damp on your team.

If you have any questions or want to talk more in private, fee free to PM me.

[michael5402]

I know they have a busy schedules and they have family. Its not like we have asked them to stay late all six weeks. It has just been the last couple days and for all of them not to be there on bag day and not wanting to stay late on day up set some of the member on the team. The fact that we only needed one part ,which broke that day, to be finished and they would not let us go get the part mad us a little mad. We are only a 15 minute drive from andy mark and could have easily got the part and fixed the robot. I personally and on the drive team and we have had hardly any practice time. We did go to a week zero event but left fairly early because we had some major problems. I was on the drive team last year and las year we had a different mentor who always stayed late and two keep in mine two of our mentors are teachers and the other is a retired electrical, so having practice around there work schedule is not a problem.

[logank013]

Originally Posted by michael5402

I know they have a busy schedules and they have family. Its not like we have asked them to stay late all six weeks. It has just been the last couple days and for all of them not to be there on bag day and not wanting to stay late on day up set some of the member on the team. The fact that we only needed one part ,which broke that day, to be finished and they would not let us go get the part mad us a little mad. We are only a 15 minute drive from andy mark and could have easily got the part and fixed the robot. I personally and on the drive team and we have had hardly any practice time. We did go to a week zero event but left fairly early because we had some major problems. I was on the drive team last year and las year we had a different mentor who always stayed late and two keep in mine two of our mentors are teachers and the other is a retired electrical, so having practice around there work schedule is not a problem.

Like I was saying, you have 6 hours to work on the robot at your shop in the 7 days leading up to your first event. Also, remember that you can work on your robot as much as you want to (fitting within 30 lbs of prefabricated parts) at competitions. If it is just one minor part, you should have it fixed within your 6 hours of unbag time.

[jweston]

Originally Posted by michael5402

I know they have a busy schedules and they have family. Its not like we have asked them to stay late all six weeks. It has just been the last couple days and for all of them not to be there on bag day and not wanting to stay late on day up set some of the member on the team. The fact that we only needed one part ,which broke that day, to be finished and they would not let us go get the part mad us a little mad. We are only a 15 minute drive from andy mark and could have easily got the part and fixed the robot. I personally and on the drive team and we have had hardly any practice time. We did go to a week zero event but left fairly early because we had some major problems. I was on the drive team last year and las year we had a different mentor who always stayed late and two keep in mine two of our mentors are teachers and the other is a retired electrical, so having practice around there work schedule is not a problem.

I've mentored every single day this build season, including 19.5 hrs from Sunday to bag alone. Mentors do this because they care a ton about the students and love robotics almost as much. But they do have other things in their lives that take them away.

Having three mentors covering 6 weeks of build is asking a great deal of them. Please don't presume to know what goes on in the lives of any of your mentors, regardless of who they are. I'm sure they miss the time with the team as long as they feel like the students are engaged. It's critical to the success of a team to get as many supportive mentors as you can, both engineering and non-engineering. Even the most dedicated mentor can be overwhelmed or burn out when stretched too thin.

I recommend talking to your mentors about trying recruiting additional mentors. Please bear in mind that the students should be doing a fair amount of the legwork, but it definitely needs to be done in cooridination with your current mentors. Good options are parents (especially for non-engineering tasks) or local professional engineering societies (ASME, IEEE, SWE, NSBE, ACM, Alpha Pi Mu, Pi Tau Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, etc.). If you're lucky, perhaps one of your sponsors has an employee volunteer program.

[Roboshant]

Originally Posted by logank013

In accordance of section 5.5.2 of the admin manual, you have 6 hours to work on your robot on the 7 days before a competition. So you still have 6 hours to work on your robot before your first competition.

Does this include the pit setup day before the first day of quals (Thursday)?

[logank013]

Originally Posted by Roboshant

Does this include the pit setup day before the first day of quals (Thursday)?

Here's what the game manual says:

Teams may unlock their robot for a total of six (6) hours during the 7-day period preceding any two-day
event in which their team will be competing with their robot. The six hours may be broken up in any way
the team wishes, with the exception that no single access period may be shorter than two (2) hours. The
robot must be locked up in between sessions and this must be documented on the Robot Lock-up Form
each time.

I believe this is 6 hours before competitions. Not including pit setup. So my guess is if you have competition matches on Friday and Saturday and pit set up is Thursday Night, I don't think you can work on your robot Thursday night. Remember, this is only for district competitions. Not regionals.

Edit: The admin manual also states that you can work on your robot at competitions when your lock up form has been seen by an inspector and the pits have been opened for robot work. I believe most events allow robot work on pit setup night. If they approve work in the pits on pit set up night, this is NOT including your 6 hours of Unbag time.