2017 scouting apps question

[catmanjake]

Our team wants to look into electronic scouting apps. I thought I had seen some posts earlier on apps that other teams put together and shared but I can't find any. Are there teams that put together scouting apps and share? Right now, we just want to get an idea on what electronic scouting looks like before proceeding further. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

[ngreen]

Originally Posted by catmanjake

Our team wants to look into electronic scouting apps. I thought I had seen some posts earlier on apps that other teams put together and shared but I can't find any. Are there teams that put together scouting apps and share? Right now, we just want to get an idea on what electronic scouting looks like before proceeding further. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

I am looking into making an AppSheet app. I read someone that did it last year. All the data is stored in Google Sheets and it works on iPhone and Android.

Others have documented scouting apps here; Thunderscout and 1678's scouting system whitepaper come to mind. Also, a rudimentary search of GitHub reveals some in progress (using terms frc and scouting).

Finally, I'm relying more heavily on the FIRST API (or thebluealliance) this year. For some data, it can be as simple as visiting the web page and copy/paste, but there is more info around about accessing it using scripts (python, R, etc). For analysis, Tableau workbooks worked well for me last year and each team gets free copies, but also can be done in other programs (even Excel -- which honestly has improved data analysis in the newest version, no joke).

Lastly, realize you get alliance scores from the APIs while most want individual scores. OPR (and similar calculations) are useful there and there are some good resources around to learn to do it with scripts, and it can be done on components (like auto, high goal) and not only the final scores.

[ABreyen]

Originally Posted by ngreen

I am looking into making an AppSheet app. I read someone that did it last year. All the data is stored in Google Sheets and it works on iPhone and Android.

Others have documented scouting apps here; Thunderscout and 1678's scouting system whitepaper come to mind. Also, a rudimentary search of GitHub reveals some in progress (using terms frc and scouting).

Finally, I'm relying more heavily on the FIRST API (or thebluealliance) this year. For some data, it can be as simple as visiting the web page and copy/paste, but there is more info around about accessing it using scripts (python, R, etc). For analysis, Tableau workbooks worked well for me last year and each team gets free copies, but also can be done in other programs (even Excel -- which honestly has improved data analysis in the newest version, no joke).

Lastly, realize you get alliance scores from the APIs while most want individual scores. OPR (and similar calculations) are useful there and there are some good resources around to learn to do it with scripts, and it can be done on components (like auto, high goal) and not only the final scores.

Do you have an ETA of when this app will be available/know if this will be something you will pursue? Do you know if the app for last year still exists somewhere?

I want to try to see if our team can get electronic scouting this year. We did paper forms, then a couple people put in all the info into a spreadsheet. This was killer.

Our school may have access to iPod Touches, do you know if this would be an option? Also, how will you store data to GSheets if you are offline at a competition?

[ngreen]

Originally Posted by ABreyen

Do you have an ETA of when this app will be available/know if this will be something you will pursue? Do you know if the app for last year still exists somewhere?

I want to try to see if our team can get electronic scouting this year. We did paper forms, then a couple people put in all the info into a spreadsheet. This was killer.

Our school may have access to iPod Touches, do you know if this would be an option? Also, how will you store data to GSheets if you are offline at a competition?

No ETA for mine, it probably won't be released. I didn't see an actual app from last year just a mention. There might be technical issues to sharing the app source/template given it isn't code based, I just don't know that at this point.

I was developing for phones and would rely on mobile data, which most venues have. There is some offline/syncing feature that could be used to minimize the need for data -- maybe it can collect all the data offline and then later sync to gsheets at once when you find wifi (hotel, home, etc), but I haven't tested that.