scouting 2011

[xSAWxBLADEx]

Originally Posted by Waffles

-Engagement time w/ tower

-Alliance role (for majority of match)
-->Supplier, score, defense? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

-Placement speed
-->Slow, medium, fast

-Pickup speed
-->Slow, medium, fast

-Drive skill
-->Maneuverability
-->Precision

-Feeder skill
-->Throwing distance

stuff like that is mostly opinion

[MagiChau]

Originally Posted by xSAWxBLADEx

stuff like that is mostly opinion

throwing distance and engagement time looks more like estimations of numbers than opinion. I see the point of how judging pickup and placement speed makes scouting hard since for example, the team I am in attend a Week 1 Event, and no one has any idea what is the difference between slow, medium and fast until plenty of matches have already gone by to judge others on. Perhaps an approximation of the time is needed.

I think driver-skill is plausible somewhat since it should be obvious if a robot has clumsy movements compared to fantastic ability to play defense or move across the field.

I am disputing mainly with your 2 examples of throwing distance and engagement time with tower.

[nitneylion452]

Originally Posted by xSAWxBLADEx

stuff like that is mostly opinion

How are things like distance and speed opinion? I'm sure they have criteria (such as approximate time) for what constitutes slow, medium, and fast.

[MarkoRamius1086]

Originally Posted by xSAWxBLADEx

"Originally Posted by Waffles
-Engagement time w/ tower

-Alliance role (for majority of match)
-->Supplier, score, defense? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

-Placement speed
-->Slow, medium, fast

-Pickup speed
-->Slow, medium, fast

-Drive skill
-->Maneuverability
-->Precision

-Feeder skill
-->Throwing distance "

stuff like that is mostly opinion

Perhaps "opinion" is a harsher word for "Qualitative Observation?" Many of these do have the ability to peer into a situation and see who did the real work, and who did something other than productive.

-Feeder Skill

Unless a Human Player is strong and skilled enough to throw tubes across the feild onto the lower racks (really improbable), middle racks (highly impobable), or high racks (astronomically improbable) there is no way to put a Quantitave Observation on Human Player performance. Perhaps Human Player performance is not quite as important as it was in say... Lunacy... but a good human player who can watch the game and throw the game pieces where and when they are needed is something every strong alliance should have.

Originally Posted by Waffles

-Alliance role (for majority of match)
-->Supplier, score, defense? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

Matching and cooperative Alliance Roles are undoubtedly one of the key factors when trying to create an ideal winning alliance.

Originally Posted by Waffles

-Drive Skill
-Engagement time w/ tower
-Placement speed
-Pickup speed

These four give a solid indication to the fluidity of a teams driving or robot mechanism. Pure numbers and ratios can give a great indicator to who the top teams are, but in most cases it is not as clear cut as that and some serious in-depth research on how a team performs under pressure can make the difference between victory and defeat.

Every team has good days and bad days, matched by good luck and bad luck in their matching, and due to this numbers alone cannot make a valid decision in my eyes. For the record I believe that ratios and other match numbers are just as invaluable (to showing the top teams for alliance pickings) as qualitave info. It takes a combination of qualitative and quantitave observations to truly make sure you are picking the team you want to.

My $0.02
Happy scouting and good luck this year!

[Chris is me]

The important thing to note is to only track stats you're actually going to use. Speed is good to have - but it will be evident in scoring ability.

Here's my list as of now:

• # of Tubes on rack
• # of Tubes Misplaced (put in wrong position for a logo)
• # of Tubes Dropped
• Time on clock when Minibot scores
• # of Tubes Passed

What else would you need that's not subjective or obvious?

[xSAWxBLADEx]

sorry opinion was the wrong word i just think they are unneeded, with our scouting program and sheets we are trying to make them idiot proof cause yes all that stuff sounds good now but the question is when we get to competition can a person really scout all that?

[MagiChau]

Originally Posted by xSAWxBLADEx

sorry opinion was the wrong word i just think they are unneeded, with our scouting program and sheets we are trying to make them idiot proof cause yes all that stuff sounds good now but the question is when we get to competition can a person really scout all that?

I think the team has to come to an agreement before competition on how to prioritize aspects of teams. This may help with an issue of people being unable to properly scout. I don't think the team planned on having every aspect unweighted. So they probably are not expecting perfect data, but just in case an individual can notice it I guess.

[xSAWxBLADEx]

ya just giving my $0.02 cause over my 5 years of scouting (being head scout and actually scouting) the easier the scouting the more useful info you get

(i know chief delphi says my rookie year is 2009 but my sister was on the team in 2005 and we were short on scouters...then i got hooked :/)

[MagiChau]

Originally Posted by MarkoRamius1086

Every team has good days and bad days, matched by good luck and bad luck in their matching, and due to this numbers alone cannot make a valid decision in my eyes. For the record I believe that ratios and other match numbers are just as invaluable (to showing the top teams for alliance pickings) as qualitave info. It takes a combination of qualitative and quantitave observations to truly make sure you are picking the team you want to.

My $0.02
Happy scouting and good luck this year!

Don't forget that we have to have dedicated individuals spending a bit of time analyzing after the day what teams look the best by combining those two. Then if they're not the head then inform the head of their opinion.

[EagleEngineer]

Make a form that includes two slots for your too alliance parterns and three slots for your opponents. Put all the information that is important to the game such as if their robotics is offensive or densive, effective or ineffective, etc. Also include a part in each that shows the autonomous and a simple sketch of their robot. Once your done scouting the teams that are in your match, you should give it to the drive team, and have them evalute it. Having all the information on one sheet is much easier than having 5 sheets.

Good luck Scouting!

[nitneylion452]

Here's my scouting sheet. I don't know if we'll use it, but I think it's pretty good.
I also attached my "how to use the sheet" guide because I think it's necessary in order to understand the sheet's workings.

[xSAWxBLADEx]

Originally Posted by nitneylion452

Here's my scouting sheet. I don't know if we'll use it, but I think it's pretty good.
I also attached my "how to use the sheet" guide because I think it's necessary in order to understand the sheet's workings.

while going over your teams scouting sheet i saw team scores (why do you need that when its in the pits 24/7)

[nitneylion452]

If they're a defensive bot, it helps to know the final score because it can be a decent way to gauge how well they did. Plus it only takes like 3 seconds to look at the screen and write down the numbers.

[xSAWxBLADEx]

i just feel its a waste of trees...YOU TREE KILLER lol

[nitneylion452]

Originally Posted by xSAWxBLADEx

i just feel its a waste of trees...YOU TREE KILLER lol

Haha. It stays on one page, it's more of a waste of ink, if anything.