Scouting program in the works, need ideas!

[Rizner]

How about "How do they hang"

options could be on the top tower, platform, or from a side bar.

Another thing -- would you be setting this up for other teams to use individually, or have you considered having it link together so people could upload for anyone at an event to see?


Also, penalties teams caused?

[Bomberofdoom]

Before I jump in to the advanced stuff, I think you need to have more control/list boxes for Ball control (including shooting and possesing/herding mechanisim), Drive train (Mecanum, six-wheel drive, SPIRIT etc...), and End-game (Hanging mechanisim, suspension mechanisim (what allows other robots to hang on him)).

In order to store information the information in a database - I say SQL FTW, if you're into it.

Last year, I wrote my own "database" for my (first) scouting application, including serializing the info into byte-size code and saving them into text files which were later deserialized etc...

I'd sugest having two main databases - One is for general information about the team and the robot (usually information gathered in the practice days, about what mechanisims are built into the robot), the second being information about robot preformance in every match.

Eventually, information for tactics for upcoming games need to be given to the drive team very quickly, for the intervals between games are quite short. Having your scouting system having an automated analasyis-of-information system will allow you to give a summarized version of the teams preformance.

But as I see your current application state, I'd say this is an addition you could work on after you've done with the basics.

EDIT: Also for elimination (or even for the quals) - put a "Role" indicator, where you write you analysis about the team's ability to play a certain role in the field (defense, mid-field, scorer, lifter etc..)

[PICgnosis]

The Inventivity wiimote scouting parameter are summarized in post #54 of this thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t=75784&page=4. Preliminary wiimote button assignments are included as an attachment.

We will also include importation of match data (and possibly images) from www.thebluealliance.net, a robot image database, and printable strategy sheets with team stats and a field diagram.

[XaulZan11]

[quote=apalrd;905445]
We asked the scouts (freshman) to total the tallies at the end, so the data enterers would not have to, but being freshman they didn't. [quote]

I think of of the most important aspects a scouting system should have is clearity. One thing that I have learned from working with scouts is that errors are usually due to misunderstanding rather than just being lazy. Clear instructions and layout of the paper should be a priority. If it is not, then you will likely get bad data. Bad data is far far worse than no data.

As for the proposed scouting system, I would add something for autonomous mode. Mainly where they start and what did they do.

[Chris is me]

As a general rule, stuff that's objective that you can get in the pits you don't include in the stand scout sheet. That doesn't mean you take everyone's "we can score 10 balls" seriously in pits and don't check, but you don't need to put whether or not they can hang on the stand scouting sheet, or how far they can physically hit the ball.

[apalrd]

We once told a pit scout that our robot could fly, just to see if they believed us.

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

That doesn't mean you take everyone's "we can score 10 balls" seriously in pits and don't check, but you don't need to put whether or not they can hang on the stand scouting sheet, or how far they can physically hit the ball.

I rarely find value in pit scouting. Other than taking a picture and looking at the drivetrain, I just don't find any value in what teams say about their robot. I'm not saying that every team lies or exaggerates, but I care HOW WELL you can do something not IF you can do it. If you came to our pit in 2007, we would have told you we had ramps. We did, but, I think, we only deployed them twice and never came close to getting anyone elevated. So, a team may have a device to hang, but does it work?

My team hasn't started our scouting discussions yet, but what I will favor is a box that says "Did they hang" and then a general comments section. Thus, we can find out if they score ponts and can write down comments (like, it took them half the match to hang, hung in 5 seconds, tried but ran out of time to hang...) so we know more than just if they did it or not.

[CHapstack]

I think it's important to include a section about autonomous mode, like how many balls were successfully scored/moved up field in autonomous. You also could consider adding a section that tells which zone a team prefers to start the match in (more pit recon).

[davidq2012]

I too am working on a scouting program like that. Mine is focused on an easy to use UI and compatibility with XML and The Blue Alliance. Here is a screenshot of what I have for adding a team to the database. It needs some work and I was hoping I could find someone to collaborate with to make a truly effective program.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/at...d=126435218 9

Let me know if you are interested in working with me so we could get more teams to use the same scouting standards.

[Sean Raia]

Originally Posted by Phoenix Spud

What about adding an area for comments? This way the scouter can input more information as they see fit.

Will you be making this software publicly available?

Yes this will be posted on chief delphi when im done. I expect i will be done with it or at least have a beta for you guys in around a week or so... We'll see. And thanks for the idea Pheonix!

[Sean Raia]

Originally Posted by Bomberofdoom

Before I jump in to the advanced stuff, I think you need to have more control/list boxes for Ball control (including shooting and possesing/herding mechanisim), Drive train (Mecanum, six-wheel drive, SPIRIT etc...), and End-game (Hanging mechanisim, suspension mechanisim (what allows other robots to hang on him)).

In order to store information the information in a database - I say SQL FTW, if you're into it.

Last year, I wrote my own "database" for my (first) scouting application, including serializing the info into byte-size code and saving them into text files which were later deserialized etc...

I'd sugest having two main databases - One is for general information about the team and the robot (usually information gathered in the practice days, about what mechanisims are built into the robot), the second being information about robot preformance in every match.

Eventually, information for tactics for upcoming games need to be given to the drive team very quickly, for the intervals between games are quite short. Having your scouting system having an automated analasyis-of-information system will allow you to give a summarized version of the teams preformance.

But as I see your current application state, I'd say this is an addition you could work on after you've done with the basics.

EDIT: Also for elimination (or even for the quals) - put a "Role" indicator, where you write you analysis about the team's ability to play a certain role in the field (defense, mid-field, scorer, lifter etc..)

Thanks for the ideas, i think i will make a small addition that tells you which team is the best and a little about their robot. Although using excel for the read out is possible... im still going to add my own little comparison feature so it can run without excel.

[KC1AJT]

I attached what I came up with for my team.

This, as well as a Pit Scouting program and an access database for both will be available later on for download.

[Bomberofdoom]

Looks nice, Patrick. I'm starting to see that having a more subjective look on strategy of teams, analyising thier role abilities will be important (Effective blocker, defender, mid-field assister etc....).

[Bill_B]

Looks pretty good C.Teen. Of course, there are a couple of points:
Take a more careful look at the use of radio buttons versus check boxes. if the answer to the section can contain each of the selections, use checkboxes instead of having a radio that says "all of the above" or "both". let the scout click on all that apply in each case. yes/no deserve to be radio buttons.

The box which records the scout's name deserves to be more complex. Namely, a combo box that allows input and remembers, then lists all the names entered. It will get pretty old for your scout to enter his/her name EVERY time a survey is taken. Let the repeating scouts select a name from the list.

[Jeeman]

What about type of drive system, mecanum, 6WD, crab, ect? A spot for teams to type in where they are going to play.