Scouting sheet input requested

[BJC]

That is a pretty good scouting sheet. I do, however, have a couple of suggestions.

- we like to use scale of 1 2 3 4 5 (circle one) to judge things like speed, driver precision, tube pick up speed, and other qualitative yet important bits of data. We have found that although people judge the scale differently when you put all of a perticular robot's scouting reports togeather it gives a fairly clear idea of what that robot can do.. anyway, it's better than "fast- (yes) (no)."

-Our team is old fashioned-we also use paper. We like to fit every team onto one page and file them away. Every page has probably 8ish matches per sheet so nearly every match of every team is recorded and filed. We have found that this goes a long way in staying organized when using a paper system. Theres no, "wait wheres team #### I though you had their 3rd match? Where is it?" etc.

-We also like to have lots of people cycle through match scouting. We have several main scouters which are filing and keeping control over the match scouting, one or two who go and pit scout, and 2ish mentors who make specific notes about robots (which will need to be further reviewed on Saturday), take pictures, and keep general tabs on the overall scouting process. It's a good system which has worked very well for us in the past.

Again, good start.

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by BJC

we like to use scale of 1 2 3 4 5 (circle one) to judge things like speed, driver precision, tube pick up speed, and other qualitative yet important bits of data. We have found that although people judge the scale differently when you put all of a perticular robot's scouting reports togeather it gives a fairly clear idea of what that robot can do.. anyway, it's better than "fast- (yes) (no)."

Be sure your not mistaking Precision for Accuracy. Being able to say "This team on average has a speed rating of 3.54" is still based on the biased perception of the scouts.

In terms of the sheet, what about teams that fetch tubes (ie pick up tubes and drop them into the home zone for other teams to score)? For our scouting sheets, I'm thinking about keeping track of the number of tubes brought into the home zone (even if they are scored or just 'fetched'), but that could get redundent.

I doubt our scouting sheets will have the mini-bot place (1st through 4th) because that is heavily dependent on partners and opponents mini-bot speed. I think we will keep track of time it takes for the mini bot to reach the top from the time the robot touches the tower.

For autonomous, you can make it a little easier and say "Where did they score (circle one): top, middle, bottom, none".

I think the "Approximate time takes to score tube" will be shown in the number of tubes scored. I think you could get rid of that and make it eaiser on the scouts.

A minor thing, in the tele-op box, I would re-order the items so the mini-bot stuff is all at the end, so the scout can just go right down the list.

Another tip that we have done the last few years, for things that teams will do several of (like score tubes, score balls last year, laps in 2008...), we have put little numbers on the sheet that the scout checks off during the match. Its a lot easier than trying to count on your hands, especially when there are several things your keeping track of.

Overall though, I think this is a very good scouting sheet!

[BJC]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

Be sure your not mistaking Precision for Accuracy. Being able to say "This team on average has a speed rating of 3.54" is still based on the biased perception of the scouts.

Just to clarify my above post:

I would consider Precision how well the drivers drive. Although it is not easily defined it is very apparent which robots are well driven and which are not.

I consider Accuracy how precise the drivers need to drive to be successful. For example this year if you have a roller claw to pick up tubes off the ground you generally need to be less accurate then if you are picking tubes using the inside hole.

and Yes, the 12345 metric can be bias, however, it is not used to find a average. It is instead a tool for scouters to consider when making a pick list. It is not perfect, however despite all flaws it has worked amazingly well for our team. Combined with all the other scouting info it gives a great general idea of how good a team is at said function.

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by BJC

I would consider Precision how well the drivers drive. Although it is not easily defined it is very apparent which robots are well driven and which are not.

I consider Accuracy how precise the drivers need to drive to be successful. For example this year if you have a roller claw to pick up tubes off the ground you generally need to be less accurate then if you are picking tubes using the inside hole.

I was talking about Precision and Accuracy in the statistical/numbers sense, not in the robotics sense. Basically, precision does not mean accuracy. I can say there are "1,002,353,234,354,787" grains of sand on a beach and be very Precise, but still be innacurate. On the other hand, I can say there are over 1 billion grains of sand. I wouldn't be Precise but I'd be Accurate. Obviously the key is to balance precision and accuracy.

Back to the robotics, by putting a number on the speed/driving ability/pickup speed, you are precise, but not necessarily accurate. I think people have a tendency to see precision (a number) and assume it is accurate.

[Wildcat]

attached below are the most recent updates of my sheets

[Sue-San]

That is a pretty nice scouting sheet

Just a few suggestions/comments:

• Like stated before, try to take out the subjective stuff. Is there any way you can remove the whole ranking box and make it into yes/no questions to avoid too much judgement made by the scouts?
• Have you considered adding anything about defense?
• I like the portion about the lane entry

Good Luck!

[IKE]

Originally Posted by BJC

-Our team is old fashioned-we also use paper. We like to fit every team onto one page and file them away. Every page has probably 8ish matches per sheet so nearly every match of every team is recorded and filed. We have found that this goes a long way in staying organized when using a paper system. Theres no, "wait wheres team #### I though you had their 3rd match? Where is it?" etc.
.

This is in my opinion the best tip of all (hey it our system, so I am biased). The nice thing about this is you have a clear overview on a single sheet of how a team does. Doing 1 sheet per team per match will lead to 80*6 or 480 sheets to sort through from 40 teams at a District event. If you have a single sheet you can then review 8 or so matches at a glance. Each team has a sheet, thus we have 40 sheets at a district, 64 at MSC, and 80-ish at the championship. Much more manageable, and more importantly Actionable! Here is our Championship sheet from last year. It only has 5 matches, but this covered through Friday, and gave really good trending data.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2370
Teams frequnetly remember their best matches and believe that is their "Average" performance. A team that we are good friends with asked us to pick them because they could score 11 balls in the home zone. We had a frank discussion with them about their consistency. I showed them their sheet. Yes, 1 match they scored 11 balls. It was the only match they scored more than 4. Most matches they were under 2. If you just looked at their average, around 4/match, it wasn't too bad. If you ignored the one good match, their average was closer to 2.

By the Championship, we had a "Summary box where we summed up attributes. Passes and scores and hangs were summed into a metric we called positive actions. This was an wonderful indicator of total offensive capability, and a good initial ranking metric. Talking to a scouting team I admire a lot, they did something similar, but weighted the passing as not every passed ball scored.

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As far as qualitative goes, we use it for judgement metrics. A qualitative how fast 1 2 3 4 5 tells me a lot more than they can go 12 FPS in high gear, but spend the entire match in low and look slow.

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Remember, the most important part of scouting is having actionable data. Data your comp team can use in their matches, and data you can use to make a good pick list.
Ask yourself, what is important for your team to know strategically about partners and opponents?
What does your team need to know to make a good pick list?

Pit Scouting:
What ideas is your team looking for to make your program better?
Instead of how many wheels, how about:
How do you tension your chains?
How do you hold position with mechanism X?
How do you control the motion of your arm?
How do you clutch your gripper?
How did you decide to use that particular material?
I would love for 1 weekend if my pit-crew didn't have to answer how many wheels the robot has. See, they are right there. They are the round things touching the ground...
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This system picked 23/24 teams in elims at the MSC last year. Your mileage may vary.

[Pamelot2067]

Remember, the most important part of scouting is having actionable data. Data your comp team can use in their matches, and data you can use to make a good pick list.
Ask yourself, what is important for your team to know strategically about partners and opponents?
What does your team need to know to make a good pick list?

Pi Scouting:
What ideas is your team looking for to make your program better?
Instead of how many wheels, how about:
How do you tension your chains?
How do you hold position with mechanism X?
How do you control the motion of your arm?
How do you clutch your gripper?
How did you decide to use that particular material?
I would love for 1 weekend if my pit-crew didn't have to answer how many wheels the robot has. See, they are right there. They are the round things touching the ground...
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were not interested in how it works, as long as it does. if the robot is fast i dont care if it has 6 wheels or 4. thats not important information on a scouting sheet. these matches go quick, its hard to get specific details during game play that will matter to our drive team