Quote:
Originally Posted by smurfgirl
- how they pick up
- how they score
...
While this sounds like a long list, it's actually relatively easy to get all this data. Before the match starts, check on PS positioning, and then just watch the robot and write for the duration of the match.
|
You only need three items from that list. Separate design elements from success elements. Accuracy is important, but not for success. Of the ones important to keep track of, only these need to be watched out for during the game:
- Game pieces scored (Sheer numbers - score contributed - is all that matters economically)
- Game pieces in trailer (Might be useful)
- Shortest time from capture to score (If you need to score super cells)
- Activity in autonomous mode (The robot isn't a sitting duck, or, the robot is efficiently designed)
The first two you can get from counting alone, the third takes a bit of studying and you may want one person dedicated to this. The second one, game pieces in trailer, may not even be necessary, and the fourth one, autonomous mode, could be inferred from either the score at autonomous or the second point. Usually I have been able to scout with just two people, this year may require three for me though. Penalties are also important, though you can figure those out after the match (maybe).
Too often people think that there is something significant in what kind of drive system the robot has, say, when it just doesn't matter. There are several different areas a team can be strong in, and when picking alliances you want to be well rounded in all. Things like
has a camera simply doesn't affect any of them (by itself). In the last few seasons there have been two distinct statistical areas, teleop and autonomous (and each of those typically can be broken down into about two subareas), and I am predicting this season there will be only one major one, and a minor human player element which will have a deviation too large to be significant. Those two areas (or this year, maybe, one) are all scouters need to be concerned with.
I come to these conclusions by an economic analysts. Start with the theory that resources are limited, and consider the arena a system that contains economic goods, game pieces, goals, and time. The idea is to identify all the resources used to score points and determine how their cost changes with different robots.
This season, we have a few economic goods on the field: The corners, each of the game pieces, trailer space. Cameras, number of wheels, shooter type, ect, has no bearing on how these resources are utilized (well, it does affect how, but you cannot calculate how, and it isn't what is important in making a decision anyways). What does matter is numbers: the cost (resources used, including time) per point. When doing scouting, look for total score contributed by each team, and what other teams have to give up to score. This year, there is not very many things one team has to give up to allow another to score a point, with the exception of super cells for empty cells and moon rocks, since they have a different point value. Autonomous and teleoperated game pieces are scored equally, so there is no time preference on them with respect to the score. If there was, like last year, robots that can do laps vs. score over the overpass would be a consideration. In short, there are very few parameters to be concerned with when selecting alliances, the only major one being how many game pieces can you score (what is the price in time), the other insignificant ones, retrieving empty cells (what is the price per empty cell exchanged), and how well can the human player shoot (what is the price in attempted game pieces, I wouldn't even consider this significant enough to record). All you need to know during scouting is data related to these, which is (as is usual) very easy.
You may be surprised you don't need as much data as you think you do.