How do you scout?

[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.