GUSS Scouting System
 

I’m putting the finishing touches on this years scouting system and decided to make it available to anyone interested. The program is called “Grungy Universal Scouting System” (GUSS). GUSS is an Excel based scouting system written in Excel 2007. Use it as is, or hack it up as you see fit. System documentation is on the “Notes” tab. It comes pre-configured with the Oregon Regional teams and a few dummy matches pre-configured to let you play with it a bit to see what it does and if you want to use it.

We’ll be up in the stands at the Oregon Regional, watching team 956’s “Ice Cube” slide around the floor. Hopefully that is. I’d rather be watching the matches than helping our programmer blindly tweak autonomous code in the pits.

The system is available <HERE>

Any and all feedback before and after your regional would be greatly appreciated.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Rev b improvements:
* Added match winner forecast
* Corrected mandate that one team win. Added ability to have a tie match.
* Added more data validation / error traps.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

I'm looking over the software and here are my first thoughts:

1. I had to upgrade to 2007 to use it. Annoying? yes. Did I get a free 60 day trial? yes. Will I keep 2007? I have no clue.

2. not sure yet, I've only been playing with it for 10 minutes. I'll let you know.

What do I plan on doing with it? I'm going to try and put the teams for VCU in the system and run some imaginary matches. Or run the results from last year though it and see what It comes up with.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

It looks good so far -- one tip at the moment:

Since most people may want to customize the 'title' of each weighted factor for their own clarity, perhaps you could have all of the other areas that use the titles key off of that cell. That way, when the titles are changed in the Attributes and Weights tab, all other appropriate cells remain uniform so there's no confusion.

Example
"Match Input", cell A6 & "Paper Sheet", cell A7 both should contain the formula
='Attributes & Weights'!A$2

/edit
Also, is there a way to get all of the attributes to have the options of 0, 1, and 2?
I'd like 'healthy' to be "0 - hardware/software issues; 1 - autonomous issues; 2 - no issues(default) and
'Feed HP' to be "0 - no empty cells delivered (default); 1 - empty cell assist/delivery; 2 - delivered multiple empty cells"

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

ok, I've been playing with it for a bit and I've run into a few things:
1. When I populate my list of teams, they are not populated as a "hyperlink"
2. When I create new matches from my list and try to save them, I get an error: run-time error '1004' Unable to get the Vlookup property of the WorksheetFunction class.

I select "debug" and it points me to this line of code:
rownum = Application.WorksheetFunction.VLookup(WorksheetFun ction.Text(Str(teamnumber), "@"), Range("A2:Z500"), 19, False)

it seems to be in the part of the code that sets the new value in team page.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Has anybody attempted to use this with Open Office?

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

I couldn't open the file since it's in Excel 2007... wish it was available in Excel 2003.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

seconded

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Maybe you guys should "upgrade" rather than requesting that he downgrade...there's some really spiffy things going on in the background that 2007 does that can mostly be converted to 2003 formats.

Microsoft Office 2007 Converter

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Thanks for the input.

The most common problems I've seen so far have been associated with running directly from the download. Save the program when prompted, do not open it. A number of problems go away this way. If the buttons do not work, try to enable macros. This is done with the colorful button in the top left \ excel options \ trust center \ trust center settings \ macro settings \ "Enable" and check "trust access..."

I understand the desire for a 2003 version. I no longer have any computers with this version. I can do a save-as to the 2003 version, but I'm pretty sure there will be some problems with the macros. The differences may be minor and be a great learning experience for someone.

Someone asked about running this on Open Office (open source office for Linux). I'd be very surprised if it works. I use open office on my laptop and have noticed minor differences. There are a lot of semi-advanced macros under some of these sheets and I doubt the code has been implemented exactly.

Rev C
* Made observed attributes more configurable. Text on "Attributes" sheet, Column A will show up on other sheets and scouting paper sheet. Ranges are now all 0 (bad), 1 (medium/average), & 2 (good). Default values are also configurable.
* Added averages of all observed attributes on the team sheets. Now can see, for example, the % win of a team.

Worksheets in this system include:

Team List – List of teams, team names, current rank, average computed “score”, # matches played. On this screen is a button to automatically create one sheet per team. You may order the list by team # or by rank order. Double clicking on a team # will jump to the team sheet for that team.

Matches – The list of matches, each with the scheduled time, teams, and a forecasted winner based on previous team scores. Double clicking on a match id will automatically clear and populate the Match Input sheet.

Match Input –Match observations are entered in this sheet. The system automatically sets the default values for each observation/team to the configured default values. These values are set to a dark grey color initially. As values are entered, they turn black. This aids in data input so the scout can quickly double check that all entries have been made. If nothing extreme is observed, the default values will be used. This significantly reduces the amount of data collection required and entered. Space is provided for notes to be entered for each team. On this screen is a “Save Match” button. The save macro automatically populates information on each team sheet, copies team average values to the “Team List” screen, determines the rank order of all teams, then copies the rank values to the individual teams sheet.

Attributes & Weights – This sheet contains the list of 5 user configurable observations, their weight, % of total, default value, and description. The text value of the observation is automatically populated on the Match Input Screen, Individual Team sheets, and the Paper Sheet sheet. As delivered, the observations include: Robot Scoring Ability, Human Player Scoring Ability, Ability to feed human player / empty cells, Heavily Scored Upon, Healthy (died, had some problem).

Team Sheets – One sheet per team based on a configurable template. This sheet includes the team #, team name, # matches played, current rank, average values for all observations of the matches played, and all notes taken during the matches. Space is provided for a picture of the robot.

Notes – Contains revision log, and various notes about using the system.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

I've converted it to EXCEL 2003 and it seems to work just fine (granted I'm running it under EXCEL 2007 in compatability mode, so YMMV). I'll test it in open office later on today.

BTW, really nice setup :D

P.S. is there any way of adding additional weights easily and expanding the weights beyond 0-1-2?

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

After playing with it a bit further, I too encountered this. After some investigation, it looks like it's a formatting error.

If you manually enter in each team number on the team list tab, the cells are formatted incorrectly and you will get this error. Hence, you need to copy/paste in a team list from somewhere else.

If you manually enter in the team #'s on the matches tab, then double click the match number, you see that in the 'notes' section you have your team #'s right aligned, whereas the original copy has them left-aligned. You also cannot double-click the team here or on the matches page to automatically go to that team's tab. The workaround for this one is to copy each team # cell from the team list tab over to the matches tab. Then it works perfectly.

Starting with the original, if you manually enter team numbers (e.g. 1130) for a new match, you will get an error that says the team is not found in the team list. This furthers my suspicions that all of the VLOOKUPS look at formatting.

Ok, so some bugs, and some workarounds, but I still like it :cool:

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

I sort of ran into the workaround on accident when loading my old list into the new version. I did a cut and paste of my old list into the new sheet and problem solved. Things look really good so far. I look forward to playing with this a bit while watching the webcast of DC this weekend.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

I never saw the problem with the teams because I cut & pasted the list. I also ran into another vlookup issue with formatting. Today I was working on a "my team" page and I ran into problems where the team # was not being found in the team list.

Stay tuned....

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

How exactly do you run this? I just downloaded it to check it out, and it downloaded as a zip file and I now have a folder with a ton of different files and folders, none of which are excel files.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

I've never run into that. Did you save first? You should get one file with an .xlsm extension? Weird.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Rev D is now available. I added a sheet to prepare for an upcoming match. The sheet shows all teams for a match with detailed information on each. It also predicts the winner of the match.

I tried to make the input values more general. As recommended by others, making it able to handle a large range of values such as the # balls scored. It impacts the validity configuration (not too much of a problem) and the score determination logic. The score code now just multiplies the value (0, 1, or 2) times the weight. I couldn't come up with a clean way to do make the scoring logic generic enough to handle a large range. Feel free to change this yourself. You would need to change the validity of the cells B6-G11 on sheet Match Input. The score calculation code is in macro "compute_score". After hearing about the first weeks regionals, I now more than ever, want to score this regional with high/medium/low rankings. It sounds like it is going to be very hard to count the # balls scored by each robot or HP.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

I figured it out. It's some weird thing with the school computers. It works fine at home, so it's probably a combination of user limitations, Fortress, and dated software.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Hi, I am a mentor from Team Driven 1730. We used your software during the Kansas City Regional and it was awesome. It was very useful when we needed to know quick information about each robot. We attached pictures to each page which was very cool. It was very easy to fill out each match's results

This program was great in combination with our Pit scouting since it could not truly tell us the skills of each robot on the playing field.

What we like;

The simple and clear scoring system on each robot.
The observation categories and note compiling.
The ranking system based on adjustable weights.
We found the match prediction to be fairly close as the day progressed.

Thank you very much!

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

My Pleasure.

In the mean time, I've got another (getting close to done?) version just before I'm off to use this thing in the Oregon Regional. Check it out at the first link, page one of this thread.

Rev E improvements:

* Added match delete function. Removes match entries from team sheets, decrements # matches played, recomputes scores & ranks. Accessed from the match input sheet.
* Fixed bug where team names not copied when team sheets created.
* Added "Our Team" field (on Matches sheet). Matches with your team # will be highlighted in the matches list.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Excel 2003 Version Now Available
The file is available on the download page. It is a straight "save as" from Excel 2007 and will likely have a dozen or so formatting issues that someone can clean up. I'd do it myself, but don't have a copy of Excel 2003 any more. If you do clean it up, please make it available for others.

Rev F
* Fixed bug (finally ?? !!) with team list and vlookup / validation.

In the event that this rev did not fix the problem for you, you can:
1) Cut & paste the team list to notepad, then cut & paste it back. This has been known to work.
2) Remove validation from the cells on the match input page. If you go this route, make sure to enter the team numbers correctly or you may get an error later when trying to save a match.

Enjoy...

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

All I can say about the Guss Software is....wow!

I am very impressed with it and have not had many problems.

If anyone runs into any issues theCoder is really prompt on getting back to you. If you run into any problems contacting him I will be more then happy to help you out with use and implimentation of the software.

Many thanks from Code Red Robotics Team 2771!


Corey

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

It's not a zip file, it's a .XLSX file. XLSX files save as XML and therefore hold a file structure within them. You need Excel 2007 to properly open a .XLSX file.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Rev G

Added 5 additional columns on the team list page to display the average values from each team sheet. For example, scoring ability, feed HP, HP scoring ability, etc. Also provided the means to quickly sort on these values. This allows you to, for example, see which team has the best human player.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

1 problem,

It shows us as the probable loser for the first match! ;)

Looks impressive, some people have quite the excel wizardry!

Good luck in Portland you guys, hope we can play together!

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Sounds great. How about late Saturday?

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

This is truly one of the best systems I've seen out there - Thanks Coder.

I fyou plan to convert to the 2003 version there is a flaw if you have too many teams, like we do for the upcoming Connecticut Regional [week 5 = 60+ teams]. Excel '03 limits your colums, so the team sheets just stop being created and you can even manuall y add them Works fine in 2007 though. Again this isn't a problem with this program rather with Mr. Gates and Microsoft's shortsightedness in '03 version.

When this sytem highlights your team (956) was highighted, but only in two fields on the blue alliance. Didn't work on the red alliance. If I changed out the "Our Team #" on the matches sheet (L14 I think it is) to be our team (1991) our team numbers are not highlighted in any sample matches I created. Again, only a minor issue with this excellently planned out system.

I did make a change to your "Paper Sheet". We have found, by just scouting at the Boston Regional (economic hardships have caused us to only enter our robot in the CT Regional, but we did make a day trip with some team members) that those that are scouting can only concentrate on one robot & HP at time. So, I have just change yours to only have 1 team monitored at a time. However, this allows me to have 8 matches on a single page. We plan to have 6 students scouting at a given time. Again, this may not be viable by a smaller team, but in no way deters from this scouting system. more of a personal observation for our own team.

I plan to run the results of the Bsoton regional through it to see how accurately the scouting system works. We have some heavy hitters coming to CT, so I'll keep you posted But, from tests I've done with it:

1) I looks easy to use - once all teams and matches have been entered
2) Matches could be quickly entered by one person
3) Scouting is made easier - even by new members to a team. So smaller teams can still get results with minimal effort
4) Results would be quick - helping a team if you are lucky enough to pick an alliance in the finals.

Good luck everyone.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Thanks. This is my 5th year involved in scouting and I've been a software engineer for a long time.

Look for an update tonight.

< CAUTION > Deep Dark has identified a more important bug that I need to fix and/or you need to be aware of. Apparently if you leave the team sheet sorted in anything other than team # order, it will incorrectly write data when you save matches. I will fix this tonight. Until this bug is fixed, please make sure to leave the team page sorted by team # when you leave it.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

Rev H
* Fixed critical bug associated with match results storage problem when team list not sorted by team #
* Fixed "Our Team" highlight bug on matches sheet.

Re: GUSS Scouting System
 

We used the system at VCU. It worked very well. Expect for the fact that when I asked a parent to help enter match data. I MIGHT have forgotten to tell the parent to hit "save" after every match...