The FIRST Robotics Competition, founded in 1992 by inventor Dean Kamen, is a robotics competition for students in grades 9-12. Students have 6 weeks to respond to a design challenge and fabricate a robot to compete against other teams from around the world, culminating in the FIRST Championship held annually in St. Louis.
Unfortunately, the competition, which is meant to introduce students to STEM and establish a fair playing field for all teams, currently allows heavy mentor involvement on the field of play. Mentor involvement, while important in the build process, is unacceptable on the field, regardless of intent. Strategy and coaching from mentors should be completed before the match and not during the competition. Allowing mentors onto the field of play diminishes the goals of FRC.