How involved are your mentors?

[Edoc'sil]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

I'm just curious how you could tell, by looking at the robot, how much of it was built by mentors. The bit about fluid design and effectiveness almost seems to imply that these are signals of mentor involvement. I find it hard to believe that student built robots or 50/50 robots wouldn't be able to meet this standard.


I disagree. Mentors are teachers. Some of them have been doing work in engineering since before any of the students were born. They know more about the engineering process than the students. That's just a simple fact. I usually see mentor assistance as lessons via example, demonstrations you might call them. These are experiences to learn from, not to frown about.

Mostly the way to tell who built it to see who maintains the robot while its in the pit, if it is not the students, they likely didn't make it. This is a generalization of course but it seems to accurately reflect what I have seen the past three years.

Also I firmly agree to your second point so long as the line between assisting building/designing the bot and building/designing the bot is drawn. That's my issue.