How many teams are 100% student built

[Salik Syed]

FIRST stands for "FOR INSPIRATION AND RECOGNITION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY" no where does it say anything about students building 100% of the robots.

I say whatever it takes to inspire the students, do it.

[Mr. Van]

I'm going to chime in here. For those who don't know, I'm the coach of the RoboDox - Team 599 from CA.

We have been, in the past, one of those "We're really proud to have a completely student built robot and a completely student run teams." We've been very successful with this approach - and often raised eyebrows at pits where one or two students looked at the backs of a crowd of adults surrounding the 'bot. Our students designed and built and did all of the budgeting, travel arrangements, sponsorship contacts - heck they were even responsible for contacting FedEx and shipping the robot and getting food at the regionals. The team only had one part-time engineer who we rarely saw, except at events...

Then I talked with some people like Dave Lavery, Jason Morella & Woddie Flowers. They pointed out that if you are not having students work side by side learning from mentors, you are missing half of the FIRST program. As Dave mentioned at this years kickoff, the paring of mentors and students is what makes FIRST unique.

This year, we are working hard at making contact and inviting engineers and other professionals to come and mentor our students, and I'm proud to say we have had some success. While the vast majority of the machining is done by students, they are assisted by some mentors. We've had an engineer help with programming and another with some design aspects.

The truth is that we have had difficulty finding engineers who will spend the time necessary to help our program. From what I can tell, engineers come to a team one of two major ways: They are employed by a company that sponsors the team, or they are parents of students on the team. I think that there are many teams started by a group of interested students (and possibly a teacher) who must go out and look for sponsorship and mentorship. This can be very, very difficult.

So we are moving from the 100% student built to a 100% FIRST team as best we can. To that end, I'd like to know if other teams are in this situation, or if anyone has advice on finding mentoring engineers.

Mr. Van
Coach, Team 599
The RoboDox

[Choi9111]

We are 100% student built...we get some help every now and then but other than that 100% YEAH!

[chris31]

Alot, but not all of the team is run by the students. Yes there are things that adults do and yes the kids also have there jobs. Obviuosly money is handled by the adults. The bot is mostly student built (We do enjoy making parents hold things while while we bolt something down, etc). The engineers take a hands off role but are willing to give there opinions and warnings when we ask.

I just hate teams that all you see are adults working on the bot in the pits at regionals.

[T3_1565]

I'm going to have to go with 95% student built. Our mentors do help us a lot with design and some of the harder things like welding and stuff that some of us don't quite understand yet.. but we do learn from them so that we will know how to do it for the next time. But other than that we do most of the work, they point out what we do wrong

[Dasistmeinmoped]

I am VERY proud to say team 41 from Watchung Hills Regional High School is 100% student built. and 99.9% student designed. This normal would be 100% however a former student has returned for a year, and has been providing some guiding in the design area. Jeff is really pushing us beyond what we though might be team 41 possible.

made for students, by students.

[maltz1881]

Team 1322 is MOSTLY student built. They do the lathing most of the machining etc. If we didn't let our main mentor Joe get in there (he is the 1 last year who cut off the 2 fingers!! ) then we would go through so many boxes of kleenex from hearing him cry!!!!!! Plus that the kids love it when he makes a boo boo other then the obvious of course cuz then it was us using the kleenex!!

[Cody Carey]

Originally Posted by maltz1881

(he is the 1 last year who cut off the 2 fingers!! )

Hopefully there wasn't a second?

[Nitroxextreme]

First off I would like to say that many of these mentor/ student built threads are based only on a person's mood at the time. Im sure that at some point people wanted to be 100% student or 100% mentor. I know that I have swayed back and forth on that.

However, the very important fact that everyone seems to forget is that FIRST is about learning. Personally I understand that there is a HUGE amount of information that one person can find and comprehend by themselves. But...the point of the matter is that even though they learn all these new things, there is still so much more that they can never even think of knowing.

Over the past three years our team has developed greatly and has gone from being built by enthusiastic students...to enthusiastic young adults. We began solely on the basis of building a robot, but we now understand that just building a robot is not enough. Personally I have learned an immense amount through my own experiences and research. On the other hand, the knowledge I have gained on my own cannot even come close to the amount of insight I have gained through talking with mentors, engineers and company owners.

This year I have taken a completely different look at how a robot should be designed and built. For the first time, we are making detailed CAD drawings and testing ideas both with prototypes and 3D CAD models. We also have taken the time to use physics and math to optimize weight vs. strength. In my opinion the most important aspect of this "design concept" is talking with engineers, not simply getting their ideas or having them look at yours. We have been able to use the engineers ideas to elevate our own and change things for the better.

It is my opinion that students MUST be involved in the design and build process, but it is EQUALLY important to involve mentors and engineers.

Jonathan Morgan
Team 1626

[rohit]

Students do almost all of the work on my team. My friend does robotics at another school (dont want to name) & when I asked him what he does, he said that he just sits at the meetings and comes home. I think that thats just not right

[T3_1565]

Originally Posted by rohit

Students do almost all of the work on my team. My friend does robotics at another school (dont want to name) & when I asked him what he does, he said that he just sits at the meetings and comes home. I think that thats just not right

yeah I agree that isn't right.. Some people on my team are like that. I dissapprove but seeing as the team is not a dictatorship I don't have the final say in the matter lol But there are quite the few this year that are willing to help!

[Goldberg204]

Team 204 is 100% student run. We have our advisors who make sure nobody kills themselves but other than that, we find travel arrangements, hotels, food, metal, machining, driving to get parts, ect. We are very proud to be a very competative team with zero help from any professional engineers or machinists. We all feel that by building the robot ourselves, it will only benefit us in the long run. Instead of "watching" how to build a roboti, we jump right in and do everything ourselves.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by rohit

My friend does robotics at another school (dont want to name) & when I asked him what he does, he said that he just sits at the meetings and comes home. I think that thats just not right

His choice or not? If it's his choice, then he's the one that can change it. Or maybe there isn't enough work to go around yet. Could be he just doesn't want to participate. Now if he's being essentially forced to the side, that's another story.

[114Klutz]

114 is 100% student built, with the exception of the CNCing. All parts which are CNCed are 100% student designed though.

[thewhit]

Our team...#1666 The Nerd Herd haha...we are 99% student built. We would also we 100% student built if we had full ability to weld aluminum and run a machine that the building owners refuse to trust us with. Otherwise my small team of 17 build everything ourselves.