Who else uses scouting sheets?

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

We have a mixed system. However, most observations are merely written.

[thatphotochick]

1038 uses scouting sheets, then those are put into Excel.

[themagic8ball]

MARRS is a hybrid sheets/computer system. Though you could theoretically have everything computer based our team uses sheets for both watching a match and then printed scouting reports to show our drive team. We get the best of both worlds because MARRS shows Autonomous maps, comments, as well as numerical data.

[jagman2882]

1126 use a paper scouting sheet, but we also input that in to a computer for rankings and such. the sheet is very helpful for the drivers(first-hand experience) you can usally find what u want instantly and then give it back to the scoutmaster.

[Chris Marra]

177 will never go back to Palm Pilot Scouting for the pits. In fact, we didn't even do pit scoting at UTC or Philly this year. We went around during friday awards, and took a good picture of each team, and made assumptions of capabilities based on that.

For match scouting we have two mentors (ex-team members / drivers) who take their own seperate notes on teams they see in matches, and then we have lots of students who scout every team of every match, and compile that into a big book. So that way we have three seperate opinions, since the mentors are both somewhat opinionated, and the students quality varies.

[Warren Boudreau]

Team SPAM uses scouting sheets. Then we take the information and load it into STAMP for statistical analysis.

Computers are fun, but nothing beats a piece of paper and a pencil.

[nparikh]

Team 25 has finally moved into the future. For as long as I've been on the team, since the '04 season, we've used regular paper scoutings sheets + a filling bin...yay for that.

But after getting frustrated with having over 1200 sheets of paper to store, etc, by the end of 2 regionals, we've finally moved over to a paper/computer system.

Yes, our scouts do record information on scouting sheets (one for the match, one specifically for autonomous)...then that data gets fed into our amazing Scouting Program for analysis, output, and just about everything else under the blue moon!

This year I happened to notice that about 5 of us Robotics kids were in the AP Computer Science Class, and I figured, what a neat way to get hands on experience coding Java & we'd get a really neat scouting program. Regardless, we worked tirelessly with the help of Shoham & Mrs. Morris (our computer science teacher who spent loads of time designing + perfecting it), it was done in time for the NJ Regional.

In addition, we have 2 video cameras taping matches and a photo team that gets pictures of every robot. These are fed into Google's Picasa for labeling, viewing, and searching.

We pride ourselves on the fact that about 95% of the data we collect is pure statistics, leaving out a significant portion of error and uncertainty that occurs with opinionated scouting. Luckily, I've got about 8-10 people that work hard and long all through the competition making sure we have accurate data, footage and pictures.

When the system was finally put into use at NJ & Las Vegas, it proved to be incredibly successful in helping us find the best robots, and also for helping to develop strategy for rounds. At both regionals, we made our scouting data available to any team who wished to take a look through it.

So yeah, we use computer + paper scouting. Paper means we always have a backup. Computers mean we have amazing speed & efficiency when looking up information. I don't think we'll ever look back

[Ebolagirl]

418 just used scouting sheets this year for both pit and match scouting and we organized them in a folder file. We tried using an excel, but it just didn't work out. The sheets were great though. So yeah, I'm all for just having scouting sheets.

[Gary Dillard]

Originally Posted by Warren Boudreau

Team SPAM uses scouting sheets. Then we take the information and load it into STAMP for statistical analysis.

If anyone is interested, here is our Poor Man's Scouting System, including a tutorial and downloadable scouting sheets.

We are in the process of modifying the scouting sheets based on feedback from the students over 2 regionals and the important input to the STAMP program - hopefully we'll get it on the website shortly.

[av11d]

We actually developed an elaborate digital scouting system in 2004. We brought a server to the competition that hosted a central database. Scouting information was entered using an HTML interface that was on a number of laptops. The database was programmed using WebObjects and stored robot/match information as well as pictures.

In 2005, we went back to paper.

[JackN]

Like Mr. Williams said we use scouting sheets. It give us easy to find reliable info on any team that we need. When all you need is one sheet that can some up a team for you it is excellent.

[prettycolors91]

scouting sheets all the way. it gets hectic...chaotic....crazy...disorganized and so on. at least i wasnt in charge this year!

[Graham Donaldson]

Originally Posted by prettycolors91

at least i wasnt in charge this year!

Problem is that I was. I was in the lobby of our hotel [in Columbia for the Palmetto Regional] until 10 o'clock compiling everything just for the matches that we knew we would have the next day. It was a chore, but knowing that the scouting we had was a good part of the reason we got to the finals as a second-year team made it all worth it.

[AndyB]

I just got done printing out 80 scouting sheets for IRI 2006. We are using scouting sheets, and then I, on friday night, put all of the data from all of the sheets into an Excel file that I created. Having a laptop is really nice for competetions. I have a main page, team list, friday's rankings, cheatsheet, and draft table sheets. We also have a sheet for each team in the competition, so when it comes time to pick or stratagize, i just arrow over to the correct sheet and all of the data is right there for me.

I warn you, this process usually leads to getting ABSOLUTLY no sleep on friday night.

If any body wants the Excel file(s), I can email it to you. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see a team scouting, especially after being picked by teams in the past who havent scouted. I can send you excel files of:

The scouting sheet we use
The scouting data review program I use (Set up for IRI 2006)

It isnt really a program, just an Excel file with a million sheets (tabs)

[Katie Hans]

We use scouting sheets when we're in the pits, as well as take pictures with a digital camera. Additional information on the robots can be written on the back of the sheet, since it's blank (or at least the ones we used this year are).

Anyways. After the scouting is more or less finished, the information that we wrote on the back of the sheets is transferred to a Word document and saved as that team's number, and the same goes for the robot pictures. That way, it's a little easier to find information and match it to the robot.

The night before alliance selection, we have a scouting meeting, attended by everyone who helped with scouting and the team leaders. That's when we review information and pictures, and that's when we make the decision of who we might pick as alliance partners if we're seeded. Or, we try to make a decision.

That's how it works on our team, as far as I know. I'm not very experienced, but that's how we did it when I was helping.