How do you scout?

[SlaminSwimster]

Hey,
2614 was a rookie team this year so we didn't do to mcuh scouting, but we plan to next year. how do you scout? Is it all about formulas and excel or just which robots look the best? How do the questionaires that everyone asks the other teams on thurs. get used? Also anyone on a smaller team how do you manage scouting with not as many people? Any advice/ hints would be great.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by SlaminSwimster

Hey,
2614 was a rookie team this year so we didn't do to mcuh scouting, but we plan to next year. how do you scout? Is it all about formulas and excel or just which robots look the best? How do the questionaires that everyone asks the other teams on thurs. get used? Also anyone on a smaller team how do you manage scouting with not as many people? Any advice/ hints would be great.

Actually if you just scour the numerous threads populating the Scouting section you may find plenty of the answer you seek from many teams over the years. Lot's of good info to be had.
Good hunting!

[Mike Schreiber]

Last year our scouting was really simple:

What auton did
Number of laps
Number of hurdles
Balls placed/ knocked off at end
Penalties
Any problems (i.e. did they break)
Comments (did they play defense much)

This is basically answering how does their robot compare to others and how can they compliment our robot.

We had everyone fill out the paper forms and then had someone enter that info into a database that could be easily checked.

Sorry, I'm not sure what our pit questionare was.

[IndySam]

Find a veteran team in your area and scout with them. Just ask, most veterans would be glad to show you the ropes.

I can't tell you how much we learned by doing that.

[flyingcrayons]

we had a sheet that included a robot's performance in a round. usually we recieved 3-4 sheets a robot. also a major role in our decision was seeing how a robot fit with our gameplan.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Find a veteran team in your area and scout with them. Just ask, most veterans would be glad to show you the ropes.

I can't tell you how much we learned by doing that.

Yep. They show you how they do it, both teams get data and sort.

I'm a fan of Excel sheets for this, because you can print one version and keep the rest for data analysis. Don't like the analysis results because they don't match what you're seeing? Change one master number and get a different sort.

[Lil' Lavery]

The Thursday questionnaires are primarily used for the first couple matches before actual scouting data has been collected (combined with some generic notes on performance from practice day, which are taken with a grain of salt). They are also useful for seeing what teams still have work to be done (shows both that they won't be at 100% and that they have potential to improve).
Match data is what's incredibly useful for both match planning, and more importantly, creating pick lists for the elimination rounds (which should be done even if you aren't likely to be in the top 8). Take data on all game aspects, such as all scoring, penalties, etc.
Try to keep match notes as objective as possible, to provide consistent valid data regardless of note taker. Some subjective data should be taken (such as if the team appeared controlled, or were they struggling around the field), but keep it minimal.

[waialua359]

To OP:
Dont forget that selection strategies are at the very least just as important as scouting. Selecting a great alliance and limiting the strength of an opposing alliance will serve the same purpose.

I have also found that observing matches of teams is one of the best ways of scouting.
Much attention is paid on stats, but in a 3 on 3 game, it gets skewed quite a bit sometimes. At championships in '08, a lot of good teams through strategy played the defensive role not scoring as many offensive points as they were capable of doing.

[MrForbes]

which is why one of our scouting data points is "defensive maneuvers".

[Adam Freeman]

Watch as many matches as possible! You will easily be able to rank the top 24.

[Dan Petrovic]

It is important that you get data you can rely on.

Make sure the scouts are well-trained, know what they are doing, and know what they are looking for.

If you don't like the idea of putting info into an excel spreadsheet, we made a spreadsheet on paper that covered all matches for every team and then organized them in a three-ring binder.

One of the things we look at is whether a team was defended by another team and what team that was. If a team scores well in all of their matches except one where they were defended, then that speaks a lot about the team that was defending.

Use data from the practice matches only to loosely determine strategy on Friday. Use Friday data for selecting partners and use Saturday to solidify those selections.

[acdcfan259]

Originally Posted by InfernoX14

It is important that you get data you can rely on.

Make sure the scouts are well-trained, know what they are doing, and know what they are looking for.

This extremely important. This year we had people who really didn't want to do the scouting, and we got very unreliable inconsistent data.

[Akash Rastogi]

In addition to the valuable data, make sure all your students pay attention to special driver's characteristics and how they cooperate with their qual. alliance partners. Trust me, that is a huge part of selection.

If there are any teams in your area attending an off season and actually scout, ask them if you can join in and learn how they function, its better to be prepared before next season's competitions.

[akeisic]

No matter what you system you derive, I think there's a balance you need to strike between the Excel spreadsheets and the paper notes. The Excel sheets make quick work of all the calculations, but is slow to navigate. The paper version is just the opposite.

Team Overdrive (FTC #74) had the most amazing scouting I've seen first hand. They had a sheet for every team out there with a pasted on picture of the robot. They manually recorded the happenings of each match (see other's comments for typical criteria) on each team's sheet. They then tallied the raw data in Excel and made printed their ranking sheet for their team representative to assist in alliance selection.

What they did there is pretty typical, but what set the scouting apart was they kept the paper versions filed in an portable accordion file that their captain kept ready at the field. As we progressed through the elimination rounds, we simply pulled the paper of the teams we were about to play and had all of the information at our finger tips - including autonomous routes. We were then able to strategize on the spot and did well as a result.

I was impressed so much, that I hope to emulate their system with my team this upcoming year.

[astephen68]

When you scout depending on the situation, you should have a few things in mind: How do i get the information i need that it's a quick process of checking or circling the answer, do i really need this data or not, Because in a match there is only 2:30 for you to get the answers on that team so you need to be processed. My team for scouting this year used a excel database which we input the data from every team from papers and at the end of the day discussed what teams we need to focus on the next day.