Mentor involvement really varies team-to-team. I’ve seen teams where the students don’t do a lot on the software side, but the majority of teams I’ve seen as a “software helper” volunteer at events (and talking with other teams) have had significant student involvement.
On another note: the FIRST Robotics Competition’s official support library (WPILib) includes a number of advanced control features (trajectory generator, extended/unscented/“regular” Kalman filters, LQR) that were written almost entirely by students. I was one of the students involved in this work, and I can say with certainty that students can get a tremendous amount out of the program.
On another note: the FIRST Robotics Competition’s official support library (WPILib) includes a number of advanced control features (trajectory generator, extended/unscented/“regular” Kalman filters, LQR) that were written almost entirely by students. I was one of the students involved in this work, and I can say with certainty that students can get a tremendous amount out of the program.