Is there really inspiration in teams?

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by Philip W.

Are students really being inspired to take careers in science and technology? I know the degree of inspiration on my team, but I don't know the degree of inspiration on yours.

Our team is relatively new, so there isn't really a clean cut answer to this. So far, we've had three graduates. Of those, only one decided to change their majors because of FIRST. He had originally wanted to go into physics, but changed to mechanical engineering becuase FIRST showed him how fun it was. It's not much of a big jump though. As for everyone else on the team, past and present, I don't think that it's really changed anyone. Almost everyone on the team was already planning to go into some sort of engineering or technology field. Those who aren't took on the non-engineering roles in the team. They were nudged toward engineering, but it seemed that they didn't like it. In general, when people join our team, they look for the corner that they are comfortable in, pushing them somewhere else discourages them.

Originally Posted by Philip W.

Another measure of quality I would like to inquire on is devotion, whether you are a student/mentor-managed team (managing is simply leadership in this case, does not include team coordinator duties) The amount you work during the off-season says a lot about devotion as well.

Internally, our team is student run. Students lead the team as a whole, and take on lead engineering positions. The teachers handle most of the formal/official school business and serve as official contacts for sponsors. The teachers have already made it clear that barring some grossly improper decision, the student leadership has final say in internal affairs (both engineering and administrative).

Others from my team that read this might bite my head off, but we do a lot of work during the off-season, but don't make much progress. Everyone seems dedicated enough to try to do things, but we don't seem to actually get much done. We worked on a non-FIRST related project, but we had to make that good, lest we mar our reputation. This may be more of a timing issue than a dedication one, but I think some people could have worked better. But, I think that summer just makes everyone lazy in general.

Originally Posted by Philip W.

Are you a student-built or engineer-built team?

Until it gets down to crunch time, the robot is student designed and built. At the end, when we need some extra hands, mentors step in to design small things (tensioners, brackets...) and help in the build whereever they are needed. Before that, they serve as advisors. Some of them help whenever they see someone struggling too much, others will wait for someone to ask them for help before they give it. Each of them has their own style. As for manufacturing, it is almost completly done by the mentors. A series of accidents and tool misuses as banned students from using the more dangerous (and more productive) tools without at least direct supervision. But the mentors tend to just do it themselves. We also don't have any on-site machining facilities, so we pretty much just hand a CAD to a mentor and have them make it at a shop (but students will go to the shop with them sometimes).

Originally Posted by Philip W.

I hope to see that these upcoming posts answer yes to the question, "Is there really inspiration in teams?"

Well, I'm not really sure if I can give you that answer from our team. The engineering people learn things and are given new ideas from other teams. They see how things work in the engineering world. One saw crab drive and wanted to design/build it. However, we don't seem to really be bringing in new engineers, just solidifying the existing ones. So is 1351 inspiring people? I guess it depends on how you look at it.