Team Governance

[Joe J.]

Originally Posted by TimCraig

We push the students to come of with a design but we tend to push them to keep it toward something that is actually achievable. If the students earned all or most of the money themselves, I'd be fine with letting them take all responsibility and if it totally failed, then it's their learning experience. However, if most of the money comes from sponsors, I have a bit of a problem letting them charge off a cliff with it.

Very good point I feel the students should have control of the robot design but the mentors need to act a guardrail against designs that are way beyond their teams capabilities, some teams (mine included) just don't have access to a fancy machine shop, but then everyone should be open to pushing your limits and leaving your comfort zone to meet the game challenges. This year my team stayed in our comfort zone in regards to out drive train (KOP 4W wide set up) It came down to deciding between that and a KOP 6W narrow and we chose the 4W wide set up because we hadn't done 6W before (even though the KOP frame is designed to easily support it. So the moral don't be afraid to try something new but know your max limits.