QR Code Scouting App by Storm Robotics FRC 2729

[nlknauss]

Up until last year, our team had completed all of our scouting on paper which as you know has its pros and cons. We wanted to develop a scouting app that would simple data acquisition and migration without the need to use networks, bluetooth, and pen drives. Brainstorming happened and we think we've made a simple, user friendly application for all your scouting needs using QR code data transfer! The app works without internet connection, USB drives, and bluetooth - all you need is an Android device with a camera.

This year’s apps (yes there’s two) allows you to save and analyze vital information about other teams such as points scored, tote stacks, container stacks, and noodles. Equipped with a lightning fast QR code scanner and a QR analyzer, this app will simplify scouting.

Here’s how the two app process works:

• The User App generates a QR code which contains match data about other teams
• The Master App scans the QR code
• The Master App sorts teams based on points, coopertitions, tote levels, and all other fields
• The analyzed information from the QR code is converted into a CSV file
• The CSV file can be opened in the app itself or in another spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel

You can access it and check more screen shots out on our website and on the Google Play Store in the next few days. We’ll post a reply when it’s available.

There’s a lot of great scouting apps out there and we hope you’ll give it a try. Feel free to reply to this thread with questions, comments, and thoughts. Our students and team can’t wait to hear your feedback and hope that you enjoy their work!


Enjoy!

[Billfred]

I'm both Team iPhone and not involved with our scouting, but I love this approach! Keep up the good work.

[jvriezen]

QR code sounds like a great way to transfer data among a variety of devices, with only a camera required on one device.

[dougwilliams]

That's a really nice approach.

I have a question though - it wasn't clear to me how often I have to transfer data back to the main app? For example - can I scout 3 successive teams/matches, and then have them walk back to my main scout and upload 3 different saved QR codes for each of those matches? Or is there a requirement that after each match and QR code is generated that it gets uploaded, otherwise it is lost when the next scouting session starts?

[garrettbt]

Originally Posted by dougwilliams

That's a really nice approach.

I have a question though - it wasn't clear to me how often I have to transfer data back to the main app? For example - can I scout 3 successive teams/matches, and then have them walk back to my main scout and upload 3 different saved QR codes for each of those matches? Or is there a requirement that after each match and QR code is generated that it gets uploaded, otherwise it is lost when the next scouting session starts?

Yes, the User App allows you to scout multiple matches in a row. The scouter would just choose "save and exit" on the submit screen instead of "save and generate QR". The match data is then saved into a database. When the user wants to send the QR code, they would just choose "generate QR code" on the main screen. The QR code will contain all of the past matches. The data for past matches only gets deleted when the user hits the "return to main screen" which is on the same screen as the QR code.

[Mr. Tatorscout]

Cool! We tried QR Code generation for our scouting app two years ago. It worked pretty well except that there was a limit to how many matches we could include in one QR Code. As I recall, with the volume of data we were collecting, 3 or 4 matches seemed to be the limit. Have you run into any limits yet?

[Shocker300]

We have not encountered any limits yet, however this can be attributed to the lack of real data with which to test. Limits will exist though and they will be based on the screen size and resolution.

[garrettbt]

Here are the direct links on the Google Play Store:
You can see updated screen shots on their as well!

User

Master

[nlknauss]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I'm both Team iPhone and not involved with our scouting, but I love this approach! Keep up the good work.

I am also an iPhone person, so I'm missing out too. We began to do development on a sister iPhone app but iPhone development is a little more difficult. We bought a few, cheap, Android tablets to use throughout the day.

The app just made it to the Google Play store, you can check it out here.

Thank you for all of the great feedback and comments everyone!

[Lil' Lavery]

This is a ridiculously cool solution to the issue of data sharing at competition.

[nlknauss]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

This is a ridiculously cool solution to the issue of data sharing at competition.

Thanks Sean! Check it out in action at Hatboro this weekend.

Nate

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by nlknauss

Thanks Sean! Check it out in action at Hatboro this weekend.

Nate

1712 isn't competing at Hatboro this year, and unfortunately I will be on business travel starting Saturday. I'll be sure to have my scout bug you about it, though.

[prismiko]

Using QR codes is a great idea and I really like this app!

I just had some questions / issue found while I was playing with it.
1- The master app crashes when I press the analyze button after I scan in match data that is missing text in the Notes section.

2- Can more validation be added in the user app on the Teleop screen?
i.e. Does it make sense to be able to check off Tote Level 4 and Can Level 5?

3- Do you plan a way to have the scout be able to correct any mistakes in match data?

4- How do you clean up duplicate match data? i.e. if you accidentally scan a QR code more than once. Do you do it in a spreadsheet outside of the master app?

Thanks so much for putting this together!

[hardcopi]

Ok, this is a very cool idea. The framework I am using can already generate and read qr codes... Kinda annoyed I hadn't thought of this. Oh well.

[evan1026]

Originally Posted by prismiko

Using QR codes is a great idea and I really like this app!

I just had some questions / issue found while I was playing with it.
1- The master app crashes when I press the analyze button after I scan in match data that is missing text in the Notes section.

2- Can more validation be added in the user app on the Teleop screen?
i.e. Does it make sense to be able to check off Tote Level 4 and Can Level 5?

3- Do you plan a way to have the scout be able to correct any mistakes in match data?

4- How do you clean up duplicate match data? i.e. if you accidentally scan a QR code more than once. Do you do it in a spreadsheet outside of the master app?

Thanks so much for putting this together!

I'm not actually on the team anymore, but I know people who are and I help them out when they have programming questions, so I know a bit about how the app works. I can't answer all of your questions, however, the bug you described was a known issue that the scouting team was dealing with temporarily by putting "no notes" or something similar in the notes section. This bug has been fixed in the most recent update.

Now, again, I'd like to say that I can't speak for the software team, but I personally think that #2 should be pretty easy for them to implement. #3 might be a bit more difficult; I think they could do it if they spent enough time on it but the payoff may not be worth the effort. As for #4, I know I heard one of them mention it, but I've forgotten, so you'll have to wait on one of them for that answer.