Existing Scouting Apps

[Skyehawk]

Originally Posted by robocodepodcast

Good evening All,

This is my first year helping out with scouting for my daughter's team. I have a web development background and while my daughter's team did things paper based last year I want to help them get into the digital age. I am looking for a scouting application that is app based, on android, and can be used while having a Bluetooth server built into the app to keep all data synced for matches.

I have seen the krawler app and thunder-scout so far. are there any others out there to evaluate. I was also wondering when thunder-scout and frc krawler might be updated for this season comp. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Please be careful jumping directly from paper to electronic, the transition takes time. If everyone is gung-ho then by all means, just don't force it. I found this out the hard way.

I am working on 876's implementation of WildRank, it does not meet all of your criteria, as it is usb sync based. I am not positive on my release date for 876's 2017 update, I am thinking sometime on or near Feb. 7th (After F.U.N.). The code is being pushed to a github repo, however the current version is broken (due to porting over to the new season).
Wildrank is a great, feature-rich system, but with that come a high maintaince nature. If someone does go with my implementation after relese please note that a large portion of the code was changed since the 2015 version (on which it is based). I will not be providing the companion spreadsheet for further analysis of the output ( we have to keep some sort of competative advantage eh?)
Important points about wildrank:
- USB sync based (tablets must support usb OTG)
- Built for Android 4.2.2, however newer versions should work
- Team based scouting, not alliance or location
- Offers multi screen scouting, high data redundency, data compilation, whiteboard
- Immune to holes in data
In short, Wildrank is not for the scouting beginner, if you are seasoned in java and android development you will do just fine. It is a well rounded app offering a ton of functionality.

That all being said. If you are coming from straight paper I recommend an intermediate season with paper slips and excel. If there is a year to do this 2017 is it, there is a lot of quaitative data that will be collected so a well laid out spreadsheet should be a breeze for data input (Just make sure students switch out on the data entry position every 5 matches or so, plugging numbers in is NOT fun as a spectator). An access database may also be a good way to go about this as it has surpurb input forms.

Best of luck with whatever you choose,
Skye Leake