How do you scout Defense?

[brasspenny]

Team 997 Mentor here,

In NW Regional we won, picking first in qualifying and choosing the #26 and #55 seeded bots out of a field of 61.

Unheard of perhaps, but our scouting said these were the best bots who fit our "quantified" scouting system.

Scouting was fuzzy logic based. Logging bot attributes and then weighting them for each position in an Excel spreadsheet.

Data logged for a defender were: Clearing balls in autonomous, how many times blocking forwards who controlled balls, clearing balls in teleop, kicking two bumps, being able to go to mid field, knocking over opponents. I think there was another one but I don't have the scouting with me. (We also logged offensive data but was not weighted heavily for defensive bot)

These were the attributes we were looking for in a goalie and we were flabbergasted when we won based on the seeding of the picks.

I was very proud of our alliance captain for going with the scouting report versus picking higher seeds. It took guts to pass on the "big name" teams to go with the hard work that scouting had put in. It really pulled the team together.

I think this is 997's strength. We are a way way small market team (Motto since inception has been: Poverty in Motion). Can only afford one regional this year (and last) but we have won, from the first or second seeded position, 3 or the last 6 Regionals we have attended.

The reason is scouting and teamwork. We choose good partners and we play well with others. Also having a tank bot and driving well go a long way.

al

"Not to know but through search to find a way"
"If you are going to battle, best to have a tank on hand"