[Francis-134]

I always found that manpower is extremely important. The more people you have collecting data, the faster and more efficent things seem to go. Also, don't put all your eggs into one basket. Don't expect that going around the pits is going to give you accurate information (sometimes it seems like the "spin zone" after a presidental debate). Make sure that people are collecting info on the specs of a specific robot, and watching that robot as it plays its matches.

For this years game, I found that it is very useful if you get six people together and count the tetras that are being scored by each team, and record the data in a spreadsheet. Then, all you have to do is average the tetras scored and viola, instant rankings. It is possible to accomplish this with only two people, but it's hard to watch three robots at a time. This information can be invaluable when preparing for a match, or selecting alliance partners. For the defensive robots, check out how well they do and if they get any penalties, and add a little note next to the team in the spreadsheet.