[Swan217]

I'm kinda astonished that nobody's brought up the most important issue, which is scouting/strategy communication.

Let's say I'm team 817, and I know that team 3113 is instrumental to our strategy, more than any other team. First of all, I know that they are, because I've scouted every single match, and know exactly what they're capable of. I also know that if there's an issue with their robot, it didn't take place on the field, because there's no scouting data on it. So unless they fried their electronics, I'm going to assume it's a fixable issue. Or if they did have an issue with their flux capacitor in matches 32 & 48, I know what it is. So the most Gracious Professional thing I could think of is to track down 3113's mentors and ask if my 817 mentors could help fix their robot before eliminations.

And getting back to scouting, I wouldn't be trusting the word of a student to know what's fixable or not. He could've overheard other 3113 students or mentors talking and misunderstood. I never give pit scouting credence. I tell all my students, "If someone comes up asking about the robots capabilities, tell them to watch the matches." I may even believe myself that my robot can score 10 balls in auton & balance in 5.3 seconds, but unless it translates into QPs, it doesn't mean squat what I say.

Take it as a lesson learned about scouting & next time, ask not what your alliance picks can do for you, but what you can do for your alliance picks.