Scouting in a nutshell?

[Tyson]

Hi, new 2nd year rookie mentor here.

in my opinion, the goal of scouting in context of FRC cant be adequately discussed without first explaining the whole Regional Competition 2 day schedule: qualifying rounds, elimination tournament and most crucially important is the alliance selection process which seems pretty unique to FIRST.

you arent just scouting to see how your fellow or opponent alliance is stacked before a particular match, but trying to make the best alliance and fully knowing your options before going in, which is obviously to anyone experienced to FRC is never just the team rankings after qualifications. To the point that you could almost predict the alliances.... or map out a few likely scenarios.

keeping track of all the teams, not just the top 24, is essential. its easy to remember the top teams at a regional, but its harder to remember those teams that also are reliable, move well, and can serve as a good 3rd pick. its also good to know who simply is NOT a good 3rd (or 2nd) pick, regardless of rank, for whatever reason. its even more essential at championships where you are matched among a random national selection of teams you probably arent familiar with at all.

for me last year, it took 2 regionals in order for me to hone a good 1-man scout sheet which i carried into championships. it didnt require me to see every match (thankfully). and it was based more on qualitative measures, not completely objective results. it also had important side notes. also, importantly, it had a small hand sketch of each robot, which was amazingly helpful, not just to remember which number bot was which at a glance, but gave a brief idea of the TYPE of bot, like what kind of arm or grabber or wheels. its all rather low tech way of doing it with pen n paper on a clipboard, but less man power compared to our teams computerized i-scout methods, but it also makes for easier talking points when doing the Friday night scout report, which is the best time to discuss the scouting data.