By the book: wifi-less scouting?

[compuwiz12]

What we have done in the past is have a computer running a web server and laptops connected to it via ethernet through router and switch. However, ethernet cables break quite often and they get tangled up and you also have to run power which is a chore every morning and that uses duct tape and it's just a mess.

This year, I wrote a mobile optimized website because many people now own smartphones esp. those on robotics teams. It worked like a charm. Used a robot battery and power inverter to charge phones when they needed it. Other than that, no wires. Website is about a 100k load and then uses ajax to submit results which is only a couple of kb per match. Also, it has the added benefit of "knowing" the current match by reading twitter feed from FMS.

Also, with the way I did it this year, it was much easier than previous years to get data to the pits, they just looked at it on their phones. Before, you'd have to print/write information on each match and have someone run it down before the drive team left which took awhile, now they have up to date results when they want them.