"FRC SCOUT" is OUT

[thisOrrthat]

The moment you all have been waiting for... the iPad app "FRC SCOUT" is live!

Features:
- Bluetooth Data Transfer
- Pit Scouting with Camera
- Online Match Schedule Retrieval
- And More!

Please check out the Blog, Facebook Page, and YouTube Tutorial.

[diswed0226]

This is a fantastic app. It makes it really easy to pull up data on teams which will be invaluable when your in the queue line planing the strategy for the match. Another cool thing that I haven't seen before is that the app can quickly transfer all of its data to other Ipad's via bluetooth. Its set up in such a way that you can have a team of 6 ipads and after every match they automatically transfer the data to each other. Props to Louie for putting so many hours over the past year into this app.

[Rynocorn]

Wow. It's amazing. I am in shock as to how great it is.

[lbertoncin]

As of yesterday, this app has been approved by Apple and I really encourage everyone who has an iPad to give it a shot.

I also just tested, and the downloading of match schedules from the current three regionals (Central Illinois, Palmetto, and Alamo) all work within the app.

I have a bug fix update rolling out within the next couple days, I'm just waiting on Apple to approve it.

Please give feedback (positive or negative) about the app so I can make it better. I really want this project to be something that all of FIRST Robotics can enjoy and love for years to come.

(I'm the developer btw, if you haven't figured that out yet lol)

[Ty Tremblay]

This looks awesome.

Is there a way that you can add a custom field or two? Each team's scouting priorities are going to be different and it'd be nice to have an additional numerical field we could use for our own purposes.

[Jmulderig]

This thing is great ....
1. can the match schedule be downloaded in 1 devices and be pushed via bluetoothed to the other 5?
2. On the scouting screen could you make it so we can swipe to a blank picture of a field and be able to draw typical robot movements.

[Jmulderig]

Is this comparable with iPad mini?

[lbertoncin]

@Ty Tremblay
I don't think it will be possible to have a custom field because it would be nearly impossible to track to create averages and such. My solution for that problem would be to give your scouts a notepad to write down any custom field they need.

@Jmulderig
As for transferring the match schedules, I guess I can do that, but it doesn't seem incredibly necessary. All the user has to do is be on WiFi and go to the "More" page and tap "Download Match Schedules".
And the tracing robots' paths is a great idea that I hope to be implementing by next year. It'll take a lot of coding and it would practically disallow the user from recording the actual actions of the robot because of how focused they would be on tracing its path. It might be something I'll put in the iPhone/iPod Touch app to come.
And I believe it would be compatible with the iPad mini because I haven't seen anything in my development that specifies otherwise.

@all
I appreciate the feedback

[Jmulderig]

Great thanks for the response....

We are nervous about unreliable wifi at the competition...and if we have one devise with a data plan then we would be covered.

as far as mapping i could invision having two scouts per team especialy in the future some games may be very path importnant.

Lastly(prob not cause im so jacked up from this app i have a million things going through my head)
A defense +/- and goalie +/-
-we used the falcon scouting sytem last year and a defense +/- number became very usufull to us as a tie breaker for picking teams.

keep up the awesome work!!!!

[lbertoncin]

For downloading match schedules, you can do that the night before the qualification matches start back at your convenient WiFi location (whether it be a hotel or your home). I made the app so it does not require any WiFi during the regional.
Also, it is not a huge deal if the match schedule doesn't get downloaded, the user would just have to type in the team number manually for every match.

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by lbertoncin

@Ty Tremblay
I don't think it will be possible to have a custom field because it would be nearly impossible to track to create averages and such. My solution for that problem would be to give your scouts a notepad to write down any custom field they need.

Not if you forced the field to be numeric and made it system wide. You could ask the team to name the field and then store all entries in a data structure named after the field. It wouldn't be custom per match, it'd be custom per scouting team and would be persistent between each match.

The reason I ask is because I think time of possession (or how fast you can do what you want to do with the ball), is one of the most important stats you can record this year.

[lbertoncin]

Also, in order to add another field, I would have to change how the app stores the data, which would then make you uninstall and reinstall (deleting every ounce of stored data) the app in order for those changes to come into effect. It would also be very difficult to transfer custom data because different teams would have different custom fields, which would then be impossible to display. Trust me, it is a LOT easier to force users to use a certain format. You could also have your scouts add that extra data into the notes field after they click "Save Match"

[Anthony4004]

Will you be posting a version for android as well? I loved this on my ipad mini, but not everyone on the team had anapple device. Great app guys!

[Dominick Ferone]

will this be available for iphone and also possibly laptop

[lbertoncin]

There is currently no version for iPhone or Android or Desktop. Another teammate and I have considered creating an HTML app for computers, but we haven't put any resources into it just yet.

In the future, I plan to create an iPhone/iPod Touch app, but I'm not entirely sure how far I'll be able to go with that considering the much smaller screen size.

I will be researching Android development after the season ends to hopefully have an app on the market by next season.

Sorry to disappoint some of you guys about it being iPad only, but I am still in high school and I have only been learning this language for about a year now. With more time, more updates will come and more features will be released.