What Does a Robotics Mentor Do?

As a mentor, your job is to coach, question, troubleshoot, encourage, and share your knowledge. Mentors should help students become better problem-solvers rather than solving challenges for them.

Support Robot Design & Engineering

Help teams brainstorm, prototype, test, troubleshoot, and refine their LEGO robot designs and attachments. Encourage students to experiment, learn from failures, and continually improve their designs.

Help with Coding

Support students as they program and debug their SPIKE Prime robots. Help them improve accuracy, use sensors effectively, troubleshoot problems, and create programs that perform consistently under competition conditions.

Become a BIOGLOW Expert

Learn the BIOGLOW Robot Game missions, rules, and scoring system. Mentors should understand the game well enough to answer questions and help teams make informed decisions about their competition strategy.

Help Teams Score More Points

Work with teams to determine which missions they should prioritize, which missions can be combined, how to reduce wasted movement, and how to make the most of the 2½-minute Robot Game.

Research & Bring New Ideas

Great FLL teams learn from the larger robotics community. Research how teams outside GNS are approaching BIOGLOW missions and bring back interesting designs, coding techniques, strategies, and ideas that our teams can learn from.

The goal isn't to copy another team's solution—it's to learn from what others are doing and use those ideas to inspire our own solutions.

Support the Innovation Project

Help teams investigate the BIOGLOW theme, ask good questions, evaluate ideas, research existing solutions, and strengthen their Innovation Project.

Be a Mentor

Above all, be a positive role model. Encourage teamwork, perseverance, experimentation, inclusion, and good sportsmanship. Ask questions that help students think rather than simply giving them the answer.

Interested?

You don't need to arrive as an expert roboticist. If you're interested in engineering, coding, design, science, strategy, leadership, or working with younger students, we'd love to have you involved.

Come ready to learn alongside your team, share what you know, and help our Middle School roboticists have an amazing FLL season.

Build. Code. Strategize. Mentor. Compete.

1. Scoring Guidance Specialist

• Role Overview: Helps teams understand mission point structures, calculate match potential, and evaluate strategy using official tools[5][6].

• Key Responsibilities:

  • Train teams on how to use the Official Scoring Calculator to estimate and track game scores[6].

  • Review the Robot Game Rulebook mission descriptions with teams to verify exact scoring conditions (e.g., objects being fully in designated areas at match end)[7][8].

  • Help teams calculate score reliability during practice runs, tracking which missions yield consistent points versus high-risk attempts[5][9].

  • Guide team Mission Strategists in prioritizing runs based on match tie-breaker rules (where second and third best match scores break ties)[9][10].

• Mentorship Rule: Guide students to read rule details themselves; never calculate or choose their strategy for them[3][11].

2. Rule & Scrimmage Referee ("Rule Ref")

• Role Overview: Acts as the resident rules expert and referee during practice matches to ensure compliance with official event standards[11][12].

• Key Responsibilities:

  • Track and share official FIRST Challenge Updates released throughout the season, which supersede initial rulebook text[6][11].

  • Enforce match setup and equipment limits during practice runs (e.g., maximum of 1 controller, 1 power pack or 6 AA batteries, and 1 microSD card per match)[13].

  • Time and referee full 2.5-minute practice matches, enforcing autonomous operation rules outside of home[5].

  • Teach team members how to respectfully discuss match calls with referees using Gracious Professionalism[1].

• Mentorship Rule: Apply the "benefit of the doubt" principle to teams when situations are unclear, mirroring official Head Referee guidelines[11].

3. Coding & Autonomous Programming Support Mentor

• Role Overview: Supports student coders in developing autonomous programs, logic structures, and sensor navigation[6].

• Key Responsibilities:

  • Guide students through the LEGO Education SPIKE App lessons and guided missions[6][16].

  • Teach programming fundamentals such as line detection using color sensors, gyro navigation, and attachment motor control[16].

  • Help student Coders complete Pseudocode Worksheets and Robot Path Diagrams before writing code on devices[10].

  • Instill strong software management practices, such as testing programs iteratively and creating backups on external USB drives or cloud storage[17].

• Mentorship Rule: Keep hands off the keyboard/tablet at all times. Ask guiding questions (e.g., "What did the robot actually do versus what you told it to do?")[3][24].

4. Mechanical Engineering & Attachment Mentor

• Role Overview: Assists teams in designing durable driving bases, attachment mechanisms, and modular structures[14][25].

• Key Responsibilities:

  • Coach teams on mechanical concepts (e.g., gear ratios, levers, passive triggers, quick-change attachment walls)[26].

  • Align team building efforts with the Robot Design Rubric criteria (Identify, Design, Create, Iterate, Communicate)[17].

  • Encourage teams to log structural modifications and test results in their Engineering Notebooks to show judges proof of iteration[14].

  • Reinforce that simple, repeatable building techniques often outperform overly complex designs[21].

• Mentorship Rule: Never attach bricks or modify student structures directly. Demonstrate structural concepts on a separate test piece if necessary[3][4].

5. Innovation Project & Research Mentor

• Role Overview: Mentors teams as they identify a biodiversity problem and engineer an innovative solution for the BIOGLOW season[2].

• Key Responsibilities:

  • Assist student Researchers in defining clear problem statements related to threats to biodiversity[19].

  • Teach research skills, helping teams locate credible sources (books, news articles, academic materials) and prepare expert interview questions[18].

  • Facilitate brainstorming and prototype development (drawings, physical models, digital mockups)[24].

  • Guide teams in sharing their proposed solutions with community members or experts to collect feedback for iteration[33].

• Mentorship Rule: Ensure the problem selection and solution ideas originate entirely from the students[3][41].

6. Judging Session & Presentation Pitch Coach

• Role Overview: Prepares teams to present their work confidently during the official 30-minute judging session[42].

• Key Responsibilities:

  • Train teams to master the Judging Session Flowchart timeline:

    • 2 min: Team Welcome & Setup[44]

    • 5 min: Innovation Project Presentation[44]

    • 5 min: Innovation Project Q&A[44]

    • 5 min: Robot Design Explanation[44]

    • 5 min: Robot Design Q&A[44]

    • Up to 8 min: Final Share & Verbal Feedback[44]

  • Help student Communicators structure engaging presentation formats (skits, visual poster boards, slide decks, or props)[10].

  • Conduct mock Q&A sessions using the official Innovation Project and Robot Design rubrics to prepare students for judge inquiries[31].

  • Ensure every single team member has an active speaking role in the presentation[33].

• Mentorship Rule: Give constructive feedback using the rubric categories (Beginning, Developing, Accomplished, Exceeds)[9].

7. Core Values & Team Dynamics Lead

• Role Overview: Champions culture, team spirit, inclusion, and sportsmanship across all 5–6 teams[1].

• Key Responsibilities:

  • Model and reinforce the six FIRST Core Values: Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork, and Fun[50].

  • Facilitate quick team-building icebreakers during practice sessions to encourage inclusion and stress relief[54][55].

  • Help student Team Captains and Project Managers ensure all internal team roles (Material Manager, Builder, Coder, etc.) are distributed fairly and rotated if desired[10][19].

  • Monitor and award internal Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition recognitions during intra-team scrimmages[1].

• Mentorship Rule: Act as an encouraging role model who celebrates effort and learning over winning[3].