Data Scouting

[pabeekm]

Originally Posted by James Garrett

Our team, 4362 tried a similar system to record information -- it gave us a lot of data but we had issues keeping up with data entry. We tried to put all of the data from the sheets to update a spreadsheet and this proved to be far to timely at best, and led to not even finishing entering half the matches of data by the end of the competition.

I was wondering what you guys did to go about processing your data as our current system of the spreadsheet is clearly far too inefficient.

We kept all our data in a 2 inch binder with sheet protectors (one labeled for each team). We had a seventh scouter who's job was to collect the six half-sheets at the end of each match, look over them and give any necessary feedback, and then put each sheet into their respective teams' sleeve. Whenever we had a match coming up, I'd take the binder down to the pits, browse the pages on our allies and opponents, then discuss with the drive team and our allies what strategies would work best for the match.

As far as alliance selection goes, we looked at all the data Friday evening, made a preliminary pick list, and kept an eye out on Saturday morning for any developments that might warrant changes to the list.

[James Garrett]

Originally Posted by pabeekm

We kept all our data in a 2 inch binder with sheet protectors (one labeled for each team). We had a seventh scouter who's job was to collect the six half-sheets at the end of each match, look over them and give any necessary feedback, and then put each sheet into their respective teams' sleeve. Whenever we had a match coming up, I'd take the binder down to the pits, browse the pages on our allies and opponents, then discuss with the drive team and our allies what strategies would work best for the match.

As far as alliance selection goes, we looked at all the data Friday evening, made a preliminary pick list, and kept an eye out on Saturday morning for any developments that might warrant changes to the list.

So more or less you just use the sheets themselves for compilation and run them by the drive team before each match?
That's almost a perfect compromise between the two systems we've tried so far. Have you tried a sheet for data that the coach can hang on to or do you just use it to get a feel for the teams in qualifications to develop a strategy?

Thank you for helping by the way, this is our first year where we've had enough of a robot and a team to start working on a scouting system. It also happens to be our first year going to worlds so in the next couple of weeks our goal is to get something more concrete set up.

[pabeekm]

Originally Posted by James Garrett

Have you tried a sheet for data that the coach can hang on to or do you just use it to get a feel for the teams in qualifications to develop a strategy?

With our current system, it'd be hard to retain multiple copies of the data. I do use it to to get a feel for the robots and develop strategies to discuss with the drive teams, but I always have the binder with me during these discussions so anyone can see what data these judgements are coming from and provide their own insights.

[James Garrett]

Okay that makes sense. Thank you again for your insight and good luck at worlds!

[pabeekm]

No problem, best of luck to you too!

[XaulZan11]

I've posted our scouting system here. In the next day or so we will be updating it to account for ground/handoff passes. We've successfully used for three events this year.

In terms of pre-match strategy, the strategy team in the stands write down the stats of the 6 teams on a sheet of paper and outline our suggested strategy. This sheet then gets relayed the to drive team in the pit.