Scouting for Ultimate Ascent

[axel_grease]

What are your teams emphasizing in your scouting system? Are you designing a scouting system from scratch for this game?

Cheers,
Courtney V, SOTABots head scout. C/o axel_grease.

[Jonathan K.]

We're still trying to figure out what the deciding and most important factor in the game will be. Last year we didn't realize how important the bridge was until it was too late.

With the abundance of electronics and smartphones we'll probably end up implementing an electronic scouting system instead of traditional clipboard and pen.

[sergioCorral842]

We will be using a scouting system that a team member and I made this year. We posted a thread about it here : http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ghlight=falcon

We have updated it to this years game all we are missing are pictures. I will post the download link soon so any team that needs a scouting software can use it.

[stundt1]

We will be using a paper scouting system with data entry into a spread sheet.

Over the off season we halfway developed a scouting app. But complications with not enough devices/ no way to charge them. Led to us to to cancel the project. It had great potiential.

[jlmcmchl]

Team RUSH will be using a multi-part scouting system from the ground up. Last year, we created a similar system using iPads, which worked well. However, the main issue was that between matches, the Scouting Captain had to collect the iPads and download the data to a computer, which took almost as long as the time between matches for all 6 iPads. Another issue was that once competitions got to higher match numbers, copying over all of the data(we stored the backup data on the iPads) took even longer, slowing us down.

This year, we will be writing the Scouting App from scratch. In Xcode, I already have a working prototype for custom navigation, and will be implementing the rest of the user interface over today and tomorrow.

We will be emphasizing an efficient way to collect the information, whilst also having a comprehensive amount of information on each robot during the match. The Scouters will be using iPad Minis which we purchased recently for Scouting. We also have a central iPad Mini, to work as a sort of server. For reference, think of the Scrabble game made for iOS a few years back.

The Scouters will be sending their data to the central iPad Mini. This is where all the important calculations are done. When the Scouters send their data, I can send them back the next team they will be scouting. For each match, I will also create match predictions, and if Team RUSH is in that match, I will send the results down to our pits, where out drive team will use this to create a strategy with our alliance partners.

If you're wondering, I will be sending both apps to the App Store by the end of build season, along with a Readme for everything you need to know about the app.

[D.Allred]

Originally Posted by jlmcmchl

Team RUSH will be using a multi-part scouting system from the ground up. Last year, we created a similar system using iPads, which worked well. However, the main issue was that between matches, the Scouting Captain had to collect the iPads and download the data to a computer, which took almost as long as the time between matches for all 6 iPads. Another issue was that once competitions got to higher match numbers, copying over all of the data(we stored the backup data on the iPads) took even longer, slowing us down.

This year, we will be writing the Scouting App from scratch. In Xcode, I already have a working prototype for custom navigation, and will be implementing the rest of the user interface over today and tomorrow.

We will be emphasizing an efficient way to collect the information, whilst also having a comprehensive amount of information on each robot during the match. The Scouters will be using iPad Minis which we purchased recently for Scouting. We also have a central iPad Mini, to work as a sort of server. For reference, think of the Scrabble game made for iOS a few years back.

The Scouters will be sending their data to the central iPad Mini. This is where all the important calculations are done. When the Scouters send their data, I can send them back the next team they will be scouting. For each match, I will also create match predictions, and if Team RUSH is in that match, I will send the results down to our pits, where out drive team will use this to create a strategy with our alliance partners.

If you're wondering, I will be sending both apps to the App Store by the end of build season, along with a Readme for everything you need to know about the app.

Your system sounds great! What communication method will you use to synchronize the scouting iPads with the master unit?

[jlmcmchl]

Originally Posted by D.Allred

Your system sounds great! What communication method will you use to synchronize the scouting iPads with the master unit?

Bluetooth, and a system similar to how Game Center allows for synchronous communication between devices.

[junefish]

We are updating last year's scouting program (computer/smartphone/tablet) to make it game-specific. Right now we probably have too many fields, so I'm anticipating deleting some on the Practice day of our first regional.

[Billfred]

With Palmetto at Week 1, we're more or less going to have to scout in case we come out on the right end of the crap shoot.

My vision for scouting is determining a couple of things:

1) Scoring contribution in total
2) Disc efficiency (points equal, a team that loads 10 discs gets the nod over a team that loads 18)
3) How you hang at the end of the match. (On the off chance that your hanging technique would prevent another prospective partner from doing so.)
4) The usual did-you-really-stink-it-up stuff--yellow cards, DQs, breaking, no-shows...

[Anupam Goli]

I'm thinking of an elaborate system which entails having 6 students in the stands at all times observing each individual robot. We'll record:

1. Number of discs scored
2. Time from collection to shot
3. Score distribution. Where the scores were, how many, etc.
4. Speed range using qualitative responses. I.E Fast, moderate, slow.
5. Pyramid attempts and timings.

We'll come up with some weighting system to rank all of the teams at the event in terms of these stats and use that to determine our preliminary priority pick list. The secondary priority will be based on pit observations and talking with the team members.

[math311]

My team is made up of many freshmen, so I worry that our scouting may overwhelm them, but our sheet is including (this WILL change):

1. Offensive or Defensive
2. What they do in autonomous
3. # of "bee's" retrieved in tele
4. Shooting in tele
5. Climbing
6. Fouls.

[Alan2338]

We are planning on doing a remote scouting system for the first time. We will have 6 laptops transmit scouting data to a central computer compiling the data on an excel spreadsheet.

One feature everyone should think to add to their scouting is standard deviation.

Good for picking a reliable alliance partner, or a wild card just to try to win a difficult match.

[Phyrxes]

I have outline for how we are going to handle things but I'm waiting to see what the metagame looks like in week 1 before I finalize things as we are competing in week 3.

[z_beeblebrox]

We'll be figuring that out between build season and our week 4 regional.

[jaykris28]

Probably one of the most efficient and easiest way to take care of scouting is by using Google Forms. Doing so many different people can fill out the form at the same time and have the data automatically entered into a spreadsheet. With smartphones ruling most of the teams having a data connection should not be a problem. This also solves the issue that other teams had with time between matches.