Scouting in Michigan

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Well if any of you saw my thread about our mediawiki scouting system, you know we are using that. We will have it on a USB drive, and will have a laptop (or desktop) out in our pit with the wiki on display for anyone to use.

We also use a pen and paper system system to get the initial data, and also have every student on my team that isn't a driver (about 30) scout 4 matches of every team they are assigned to. That way we get information about the robot and how they preform on the field.

As of right now we don't store the match data digitally, but if I have spare time this week I will develop a match archive system for the wiki.

If you guys see us in the pits at an event and you want a copy, we SHOULD have a copy available for other teams to put on a USB drive for their own use.
That's not finalized though.

In the wiki we also will have pictures of every robot at the event unless there we cannot get a picture for some reason.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Alex Dinsmoor

Well if any of you saw my thread about our mediawiki scouting system, you know we are using that. We will have it on a USB drive, and will have a laptop (or desktop) out in our pit with the wiki on display for anyone to use.

We also use a pen and paper system system to get the initial data, and also have every student on my team that isn't a driver (about 30) scout 4 matches of every team they are assigned to. That way we get information about the robot and how they preform on the field.

Do you have teams x,y,z.... assigned to a specific team member? Our team spreads the teams among people because some people look for different attributes on a team than others.

Even though I'm not in Michigan, our team is using networked laptops for the first time this year with paper and pencils as a back up.

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Do you have teams x,y,z.... assigned to a specific team member? Our team spreads the teams among people because some people look for different attributes on a team than others.

Even though I'm not in Michigan, our team is using networked laptops for the first time this year with paper and pencils as a back up.

How it works is that each member has a team x (or normally it's 1-2 teams unless it's nationals). Their job is to know everything about team x that there is to know. They basically become an expert on them. They watch their matches, and track their progress.

This is really useful because when we need to "check up on some diamonds in the rough" we can come to the person and get everything extra we need to know about their robot.

We also have "general scouters" who are a group of about 3 of us who looks over all teams and interprets all data. We're sort of the opinion eliminators.


We do it this way so that everyone scouts and no one person is stuck watching every match.

[BrendanB]

Very nice strategy especially with how deep you go into a team's ability with having "experts" on teams. And with 25+ members on your team that isn't too hard to accomplish.

Good luck!

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Very nice strategy especially with how deep you go into a team's ability with having "experts" on teams. And with 25+ members on your team that isn't too hard to accomplish.

Good luck!

Haha yeah it's definitely easier with the load of people we have. That's also why we are letting other teams use out scouting data; it's so that we don't have an unfair advantage over smaller teams.

And thanks!

[Refresh]

We're trying to figure out the wiimote scouting system but Thats probably going to be an offseason project so its back to good ol' pen and paper for CHAOS.

[Fennig247]

Well I offer this every year, and always am willing to help teams, I will even come meet with teams before competitions and talk to help get some ideas set for them. I know I have a program I will be using for my team and have been making duplicate ones for other teams who are close with us. But if you are going to be in a competition with 247, do not be afraid to ask for Fennig (thats me). Our team will help anyone with scouting, I try and stress that a lot because it can make or break you.

But if anyone needs help or wants to talk, email me.