Does your team use Laptops for Scouting?

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by rulesall2

I find the best method is a method your scouts find painless and is easily assembled based on your budget and willingness to develop a system for you. Personally 842's system is simple and reliable, so thanks to you guys. I am interested in knowing how to get data straight to the pits.

USB key and a runner! Why mess with success anyway?

1714's used paper in the stands during my time on the team for this very reason. Data entry gets tedious, but it gets done.

[rulesall2]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

USB key and a runner! Why mess with success anyway?

That's not what I meant, I was looking for more specifics into 1676's router to connect to the stands. Sorry for the confusion.


Edit: Post 47: Chief Delphi

[alicen]

For the Palmetto regional 1261 and us (skeleton crews working together) teamed up for scouting, and used five laptops in the stands. There was an outlet nearby so we taped down an extension cord and had a power strip on that.

We also each had laptops in our pits for access to the scouting info.

We used Google Docs to share all of our information/sheets (Clemson had free guest wifi) though we also had the backup plan of connecting all the copmuters together with ethernet cables.

[Graham Donaldson]

Originally Posted by rulesall2

That's not what I meant, I was looking for more specifics into 1676's router to connect to the stands. Sorry for the confusion.

So if I understand it right, you're asking about how we get information around. I'm not sure exactly what part you're asking about, though, so I'll just go over it all.

6 laptops are connected via ethernet to a router, which connects to one central server computer (the admin computer). Also connected to this router is a 900 MHz (if I remember correctly - the point is that it's not in the spectrum used by WiFi and therefore legal under FIRST rules) 2-way transmitter. One transmitter is on a tower by our scouting table and is pointed towards the pits, where there is an identical transmitter (obviously these are dual receiver-transmitters, I'm just calling them transmitters) connected to another laptop hidden in our pit display. This laptop is connected to an external monitor and mouse on the outside of our pit display tower which we (and other teams) can use to access the database.

Addendum: in Atlanta, we obviously had to modify this system a bit. In years past, we've just had to resort to runners for going in between the pits; however, in 2009, an old team sponsor (KPMG) donated a couple of Sprint AirCards to us for the weekend - the admin computer in the stands put the data on our team website via one aircard, where it was accessed by the pit computer on the other aircard.

Hope this helps - let me know if you're still confused.

[ttldomination]

At Palmetto, we (1261 & 1379) developed a system via google docs for scouting.

At the events we attend, harder than finding power is finding internet. The google docs system would only work at Palmetto (out of all of the regionals we attend).

[Sumathi]

No we don't use laptops for scouting. We tried to do that last year and failed miserably. This year we had seperate sheets for each robot at the KC regional, which didn't go so well because we had lost a good ammount in the stands. So at OK we used six clip boards with about 10-15 teams for each board. This went better because we were less likely to lose them. It also helped establish a scouting system so we would have six scouters at all times.

[Bethie42]

At the Autodesk Oregon regional I believe there was a designated scouting area in the stands with access to power, however we never used it.
Our team is pretty small so we had rather an unusual scouting system:
scouting captain (me) with MacBook, and usually only one other scout, with paper and pencil.
I was able to keep my battery going the whole day, with only a charge-up at the pit during lunch.


[And for people wondering how two scouts managed to do the Autodesk regional, with 60+ teams.... At competition my job is to know each and every robot. Every piece of data flows through my laptop, and I take scouting very seriously: I consider that if the team captain wants to know about a team, I need to have a ready flow of memorized info....plus it impresses the team captain This really wouldn't be possible unless you have a team member who is willing to watch every match and stay up til the wee hours of the morning compiling data.... ]

[Battery Guy 525]

Our team used paper scouting sheets and then compiled them on one computer at KC and are going to be testing out the wii scouting program in 10000 lakes. We plan to use two old robot battery's wired in parallel contained with in a wood box to keep the battery's together. Then useing a power inverter we can power two laptops for about three hours. This also allows us charge this battery on KOP chargers.

[MrForbes]

Looks like we might try Nintendo DS scouting again at the Vegas regional....the batteries in a DS last longer than those in most laptops.

[Zach O]

Our team heavily bases their scouting on the use of laptops. We take all paper scouting we do and enter it into a laptop, and from there we can get customized scouting sheets for our drive team, telling them about each robot's average contribution, balls moved, elevation rate, how they can elevate, and even the percentage of times their human player drops balls. We use other laptops for notes, taking videos from the stands to the pits to show our team, and one for general purposes for our team (ex: printing off schedules, getting agendas, whatever documents our team will need over the course of the weekend).

We've attended Kettering, Ann Arbor, and the MSC, and we've had no problems getting power at any of these. We set up our scouting area in a place close to outlets (wether or not we can see the field), and run a power strip out to plug everything in. At Kettering (the field house), we set up behind the stands, at Ann Arbor (Skyline High School) we set up on the track, and at the MSC, we set up in a handicap section overlooking the side of the field and the pits, and also had no problems getting power.

[Ben Martin]

Last year, we used the 6-laptops-into-a-server method. Setup was tedious, and we had trouble getting power at BMR due to insurance issues with the bleachers.

This year, we switched back to paper for scouting and just used two laptops for data entry and data compiling. It has been much smoother this year, and there is less liability if a student was to damage another team member's personal laptop.

Someday, we may try one of the many other methods mentioned on these forums (DS, TI-83/84, Wiimote, etc).

[Chris is me]

The Wiimote system worked really well at CT for us. That combined with good subjective notes from smart people allowed us to make a good list. Not quite perfect, but we got good data on Friday.

[calicogang]

We use the lap tops after Friday's match at dinner. For scouting, we use 6 Nintendo DS's, with custom scouting programs.

[Mr. A]

In NJ no problem. In CT part way through Thurs we were told we can't plug in because of union rules. We would need to pay big bucks for an electrician to tell us how to plug our printer in. At the suggestion of a large man with a long FIRST history we asked the NASA machine shop guys if we could make our service public and plug in to their outlet in the pit. We moved operations and used runners to bring data from the field.

We do paper scouting on index cards printed with a scouting form. To simplify data entry, the subjective data is designed to be completely numerical so that the input involves entering a string of about 15 numbers. 6 people watch one robot each in every match. A seventh person watches for the scores and penalties while the other 6 are finishing out their match cards. the number string includes the team number, match number, and starting position, as well as rankings in a number of areas and number of balls scored.

These cards all go into sleeves in a binder (one for each team). and the sleeves for the five other teams in our matches are delivered to the drive team before each match.

We also scout the pit for robot systems specific info with a similar system, inputing the data the same way, and print it out on an index card which also goes in the binder sleeve. You can't believe what teams tell you they can do. you have to see it on the field. You can only collect data in the pit about what type of drive system, kicker, hook, etc.

Finally a photo of each robot goes in it's respective sleeve.

The data is entered into a massive excel spreadsheet as the cards are turned in, and we are able to generate a variety of summary reports that we can use for selecting partners or preparing for matches.

The sleeve system has been in development since 2004 when My son and I were the entire strategy team when we won our way to Atlanta. We added the numerical data entry and laptop to compile the data the following year, along with a lot more people. We have been refining and tweaking ever since. It keeps lots of people occupied doing something very important for the team, and has helped the drive teams greatly in preparing for matches.

[CallieJ]

For my own sanity, I would reeeeaaally like to use laptops, but we've never been able to make it work. We don't have team funds for computers (we've got one team computer that is on the verge of death currently) and we barely have enough people to get by with paper. Also, none of us are particularly computer-inclined, except our drivers/programmers who have enough to do already, so I have no idea how we'd get a compilation/relay system set up.

So, for now, we have one sheet per team in a fold-out organizer, and a excel keyworded sheet with basic pit scouting and impressions, and keep the matches on paper. My job, as head of scouting, is to make sure that the right sheets get out during the right match, and that they get to the drive team on time. At Atlanta this is remarkably simple- drive team walks to the base of the wall, and we hand the sheets down from the stands. They can then look at them during their wait. It's really low-tech but worked pretty well for us at SVR this year, and Atlanta last year. Before that, we had a binder.