Collaborative Scouting Plans for the Colorado Regional

[CAPTIN_CAPSLOCK]

As the head scout for team 1339 (AngelBotics of Denver, Colorado), I spent much of the very long car ride home from Salt Lake City considering my options for scouting at the CO Regional. After considering everything from minor changes to adopting an entirely new system, I came to the conclusion that cooperative scouting was what made my system this year, a relatively program consisting of polaroids and manilla folders, exceptional.

At first glance, there is very little advantage that a stack of manilla folders has over an advanced cloud stored computerized application with rigorous data entry: lose a folder and you've lost every detail of information you had on that team. Papers tear, photos don't always develop right, ink gets smudged, and God help you if you don't have at least three pencils and an additional film pack on you at all times.

Halfway through Thrusday and I was already regretting my archaic files and photos: data collection was taking too long, I was always rifling through my messenger bag looking for the right folder, and I had burned through more lead than an '80s action hero. But my negative outlook was not to last: soon, multiple teams were not only complementing my stylized collection method, they were asking to borrow or take pictures of my files on teams they would soon be playing with or against. I had gone from a frustrated and overwhelmed scout operating with only two partners to an information broker by the second half of Friday: come Thursday, I was handing out files constantly. This was the strength of my chosen system: rapid sharing of information.

However, I was still limited in resources, so midway through Thursday, I contacted the scouting head of team 2996 (Cougars Gone Wired of Colorado Springs, Colorado) and asked for three additional scouts; the Cougars instantly agreed. Now properly manned and equipped, the joint scouting endeavor between AngelBotics and Cougars Gone Wired were prepared for the coming day's events; Friday morning we sat down next to the videography crew that team 1410 (GWHS Robotics of Denver, Colorado) had set up in the upper stands and started recording scores, fouls, passes, defensive maneuvers, and more.

However, cooperation extended beyond the stadium; I found that my team was sharing our hotel with team 159 (Alpine Robotics of Fort Collins, Colorado), team 1566 (Ammo Knights of Idaho Falls, Idaho), and team 1700 (Gatorbotics of Palo Alto, California). Thursday morning, before even leaving the hotel lobby, I had already gotten a detailed file on team 159. Friday evening, I had fully exchanged information and strategy with team 1566. I was quite honestly amazed at how far a camera, clipboard, and cooperative attitude got me.

However, this isn't just a long winded boast-post; I want to build on the connections I made in Utah with my scouting efforts in Denver, which is why I need the help of other Colorado scouts. I don't want the aggressive nature of this year's game to get in the way of friendly cooperation off the field. So, if you are a team going to the CO regional, especially if you are a member of 159, 2669, or 1410, please leave a post below so that we can discuss scouting strategy for the coming regional.

In short: as scouts, it is not our job to be aggressive and anti-social; it is our job to share knowledge and help each prepare for matches; I want to facilitate that with thoughtful and cooperative planning.

[soccerchapo12]

Hi i am the driver coach for the Hi fives (4944) we are also going to denver. i am also the scouting lead mentor. and scouting is all about information and the more the better.

[CAPTIN_CAPSLOCK]

Yup! I am really happy that we will be bringing freshman to the Colorado Regional, because finding non essentials on our skeleton crew at Utah was literally impossible. I look forward to talking to you guys At competition. How is your scouting system set up? Do you use an app, paper, or something else?

[Michael 4499]

Hey this is a really cool idea and me on behalf of team 4499, we would love to participate with the collaboration in scouting. We just came back from the inland empire regional and scouting was very difficult to do it all by our selves so this will be a good opportunity for everyone to be on the same page with scouting. Best of luck to all teams participating in this event.

[CAPTIN_CAPSLOCK]

Originally Posted by Michael 4499

Hey this is a really cool idea and me on behalf of team 4499, we would love to participate with the collaboration in scouting. We just came back from the inland empire regional and scouting was very difficult to do it all by our selves so this will be a good opportunity for everyone to be on the same page with scouting. Best of luck to all teams participating in this event.

Sweet! Once I've gotten enough sleep to think straight, I will start organizing and strategizing. In the mean time, I hope you get some rest and relaxation.

[soccerchapo12]

we have a thursday paper scouting as well as an excel program that i made. the excel program has a user form so my scouting team just has to click on buttons to add the score.

[CAPTIN_CAPSLOCK]

Alright, I made a scouting page on Facebook for the Colorado regional. Join up, post team info, request details, discuss predictions, and more! Its an open group, but I might change that later depending on how events unfold. Here is the link:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/141488...695?view=group

[atsalyuk]

Team 4550 would like to participate

[CAPTIN_CAPSLOCK]

Originally Posted by atsalyuk

Team 4550 would like to participate

Go ahead and join. I will add you to the group as soon as I can.

[Joel Glidden]

Put data here! We've already started collecting info on the CODE teams. It would be fantastic if we could all pitch in and build a comprehensive database.

EDIT:
I just realized you need to be invited to that board to post to it. PM me an email address and I'll add you to the board.

[4550-ReconCorps]

Originally Posted by atsalyuk

Team 4550 would like to participate

Next time, please run these kinds of things by me FIRST (pun pun). But yes, 4550 is interested in collaborating with the other team's scouts.

[zawesomesmith]

This sounds like a great idea. We (team 4928) would love to be a part of this! Our traveling team is only 11 students and this would help us a lot!

[climbhigher]

Team 3403 would like to be a part of this collaborative effort!

[Jon Stratis]

Getting multiple teams together for scouting is definitely a great idea, and something my team has led at the MN regionals for years. We utilize a spreadsheet with a couple of macros to help enter and collate data - you can do the data entry from multiple computers and merge later, or use paper sheets to collect data and have someone dedicated to entering it into the computer.

The team goes home Friday after the regional and spends some time digesting the information and preparing a letter for teams - We print out a cover letter explaining our scouting method, and a list of the 25 "top performers" in each area based on the data - for example, there might be a list of the top autonomous scoring robots, another of the top truss shooting robots, another of the top catching robots, and a final one with the top goal scoring robots (defense is usually hard to quantify, but we sometimes try to include it if we can). Saturday morning, we then go around and hand the letter to every team at the regional, sharing our scouting data - and every year there are at least 1-2 teams in a picking position who walk out during alliance selection with nothing more than our scouting sheet!

I would strongly encourage you to take your collaborative scouting one step further and formalize a way to share the results with everyone at the regional, especially the rookie teams!

[atsalyuk]

Here is the link to 4550's scouting sheet (the second sheet is better):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...N 1E#gid=form