How does your team do scouting?

[MooreteP]

Our team is "old school".
We use a single sheet for each team.
With a photo of the Robot.
Each student follows one robot for a match.
We organize the sheets in an accordion folder. We use seven students.
One for each team in a match, and one who retrieves and passes out the sheets.

We gather on Friday night to share information and opinions. We especially begin discussing who we would pick as a #1 seed, and as a #8 seed.
We discuss "dark horses".
We rank teams according to our criteria.

Saturday proceeds and we stay in a group and adjust our list.

The use of iPads, Wifi, NetBooks, Excel, etc........ is a ruse, IMHO.
Much more effort than is needed, with the flawed assumption that quantitative is better than qualitative analysis.

The human brain is a more effective "computer".

Remember: There are three kinds of lies:
Lies,
Dam*n Lies, &
Statistics.

[MysterE]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

Our team is "old school".
The use of iPads, Wifi, NetBooks, Excel, etc........ is a ruse, IMHO.
Much more effort than is needed, with the flawed assumption that quantitative is better than qualitative analysis.

The human brain is a more effective "computer".

Remember: There are three kinds of lies:
Lies,
Dam*n Lies, &
Statistics.

I would agree in part. Qualitative and quantitative analysis both have their places in scouting. It is easy to get caught up in the 'coolness' of a team when looking at it qualitatively. Likewise, it is easy to look at quantitative analysis and choose a robot that may be strong in the point arena but unable to work effectively with an elimination alliance.

We are using both methods. Our scouts will be using papers that ask them both for qualitative and quantitative data. Our data-entry person will be entering that information into a Microsoft Access DB. Before each match that we play, we will print up a sheet that provides all of the qualitative and quantitative commentary for our drivers to make the best decisions when it comes to working with our alliance and planning for the coopertition bridge.

Now, if I could get the Access DB to work on Ipads. . . .

[Wizzard of Izz]

Our first two years, we used qualitative scouting, then switched to a program for quantitative scouting. This year, we simply doubled our scouting team, and have room for both. The head scouts will mostly be entering match data into cowscout.com, and Myscout (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hlight=myscout). You may want to look into these. Other scouts will focus on the qualitative analysis of the teams and their robots.

[arbym]

We subscribe to the "Moneyball" mentality. Lean toward all things numbers Collect EVERYTHING electronically then analyze analyze analyze... Here's a sample of heat map we can create.

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

Our team is "old school".
We use a single sheet for each team.
With a photo of the Robot.
Each student follows one robot for a match.
We organize the sheets in an accordion folder. We use seven students.
One for each team in a match, and one who retrieves and passes out the sheets.

We gather on Friday night to share information and opinions. We especially begin discussing who we would pick as a #1 seed, and as a #8 seed.
We discuss "dark horses".
We rank teams according to our criteria.

Saturday proceeds and we stay in a group and adjust our list.

The use of iPads, Wifi, NetBooks, Excel, etc........ is a ruse, IMHO.
Much more effort than is needed, with the flawed assumption that quantitative is better than qualitative analysis.

The human brain is a more effective "computer".

Remember: There are three kinds of lies:
Lies,
Dam*n Lies, &
Statistics.

hey my team also goes old school but mostly b/c we cant afford the good stuff. can i see your scouting sheets to see what you look for to see if i have missed anything on making ours and maybe i can even give you some ideas.

[compuwiz12]

We do scouting through a mobile (smartphone) optimized webpage. Eliminates wires and allows for quick viewing of results plus it's platform independent. It is completely quantitative.