pic: Team 1114 Teaser

[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by 1219forlife

I am going to go with that the mentors designed and built them another robot..... and i can gaurantee it. You all know its true.

Just because they turn out great robots year after year dosen't mean that they have mentors and engineers doing everything. *Gasp* maybe the mentors are....mentoring, guiding and teaching the students how to design and build great robots. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this, as the "student run" thing is not written down anywhere in the FRC rules, but I believe that, as long as both the students and mentors are learning and having fun, and the students understand the robot as well as the mentors, the team is being run the right way.

When I was in FLL as a student for six years, there were a few teams (not going to name names) who would almost always win in performance at our regional, because college engineering teachers built their robot. I was dissappointed in not winning, not because we were being beaten, but because we were being beaten by a team whose students clearly only had a vague understanding of their own robot. This isn't right.

Last year, I graduated from FLL student, and went on to mentor another FLL team. I swore to myself going into it that I would not put my hand on the robot once. I succeded in following this. However, the team's "student only" policy restricted me much more than that. Ideas were thrown out for the sole reason "Joe supports this, it isn't following the student-only policy." I spent 98% of the meeting time firing blow-darts at the wall. Only when the students were absolutely desperate was I called on to help. This isn't right either.

The mentors are there to teach. If the students aren't learning, and the mentors are just locked in the shop building without any input, than that isn't good. But if the students are learning from those with experience, and by the end of the season know the robot inside and out, know why everything is the way it is, have learned about engineering, and most importantly, are inspired to follow in their mentor's footsteps, then everything is fine, even if mentors are operating all the mills.