[rockit science]

Just a word of advice from my experience - pit scouting is fine and is good for team PR. It also gives INTERESTED students the chance to check out the other machines up close. That being said, I believe the scouting from the stands offers much more valuable info. I don't particularly care if a machine has two wheels or six, one motor or five......all that really matters is how well they can play the game and what strategies work best for them. Most of the students enjoy just sitting in the stands and watching the matches when they aren't busy with other things, so we give them a sheet with each team number and a box in which they can take some notes. Near the end of the qualifying rounds we gather the sheets and compare notes between them to figure out who does what and how well. Also, at the last team meeting prior to the competition, I stress the importance of performing this task. We always seem to have plenty of volunteers. Just my $0.02.