Electronic Scouting System, Team 1678

[wmarshall11]

Originally Posted by donald_pinckney

Thanks for the reply!
One question I have for you: how did you actually get your internet connection?

After determining that all of our scouts already owned Android smartphones, we made the call to trust 3G/4G cell networks for the most part and use wifi where available.

Previously we've looked into using Bluetooth connections to a laptop hooked into a 3G/4G modem, but decided against that this year since it never became a pressing issue.

In theory we could also run any device as a server (over Bluetooth or NFC if were really hardcore and the devices supported it) for non-internet-connected devices, then have it sync data to our webserver.

[donald_pinckney]

Originally Posted by wmarshall11

After determining that all of our scouts already owned Android smartphones, we made the call to trust 3G/4G cell networks for the most part and use wifi where available.

That is certainly one of the simplest solutions, I'm glad it worked well for you!
We didn't have quite that concentration of smartphones on our team, and wanted to keep the system more general, so it would work for future years, and thus not rely on student phones. But, I guess as they become more and more common, its not unreasonable to.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by wmarshall11

After determining that all of our scouts already owned Android smartphones, we made the call to trust 3G/4G cell networks for the most part and use wifi where available.

Previously we've looked into using Bluetooth connections to a laptop hooked into a 3G/4G modem, but decided against that this year since it never became a pressing issue.

In theory we could also run any device as a server (over Bluetooth or NFC if were really hardcore and the devices supported it) for non-internet-connected devices, then have it sync data to our webserver.

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

One other very important point: I'm the adult mentor who "supervised" this task--but the reality is that all I did was help identify the information to be gathered, the calculations using the collected data and the summary outputs. ALL of the technical software and hardware matters were handled entirely, 100% by student team members. I was simply amazed at their technical prowess of designing, building, debugging and rebuilding the system. To me this is the epitome of the FIRST experience.

I would just like to chime in here as a Team 11 programming mentor.

Will and his fellow students wrote and designed virtually all of the work he's presenting here.

So far as I know no other mentor or myself produced any of this code.
We just stuck our heads in if requested.

I think this is a fantastic demonstration of what Will, the MORT team and FIRST can achieve as well.
Will stands on the works of Patrick and Nick and Abhi and all those that came before all the way back to 1997.
Everyone making their own unique contribution and paving the way for the next.
I would also like to thank Mount Olive High School and their teachers for giving them the knowledge to safely set their imaginations free.

I think 1997 was perhaps the only year software written mostly by me was central to a FIRST robot.
No I wasn't a high school student at the time...however someone had to bootstrap the process to get here.

Now I can go play building other parts of the robot with MORT cause Will and Terry have it covered.

[Citrus Dad]

Here's the whitepaper for this year's version of 1678's scouting system. We used Bluetooth connections very successfully.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=129635