How does your team scout?

[XaulZan11]

I think you can get some good information if you use the search function. But, here is how 1732 scouts:

We (usually myself and around 3-4 students) start our scouting discussions about midway through build-season. The first step is to decide what to scout. In my opinion, this step appears to be skipped/skimmed over the most by teams. We approach this question from two angles: If I'm developing a match strategy, what do I want to know about our partners and opponents, and If we are doing a picking list, what information will we need to pick good partners. We list all the possible ideas and then debate if each one is actually important or not. This year we decided we needed to know: starting zone, goals in auto, balls advanced in auto, goals from each zone (close, mid, far), balls advanced (far-mid, far-close, mid-close), successful hang, time started hang attempt, where they hung, and number of times they changed zones (this was later taken out after we never used it at Wisconsin. It was replaced with how they changed zones). We also wanted a spot for 'general comments' (such as defense).

The next step is how to record and keep track of all the data mentioned above. Like last year, we decided to do a notecard, folder and excel system. Each match, a scout fills out a notecard for one team with the information above. After the match, some of the data (starting zone, auto goals, auto advanced, total advanced, total goals and successful hang) is recorded into an excel file so we can see how their averages stack up and easily see if they numbers are improving or getting worse. Then, the cards are placed into an accordion folder--one slot for each team.

At the competition, we have 6 scouts at a time fill out the notecards/excel file. We also 'pit scout' by taking a picture of every team and also recording their drivetrain (may sound a little pointless, knowing their drivetrain contributed to the selection of 171 and 3352 this year). At lunch breaks and on Thursday and Friday night, myself and a couple of the scouts create the qualification match strategy, using the notecards. Depending on how teams do their previous matches, these may be slightly changed. One of the scouts then informs the driveteam of the strategy before the match.

The formation of the picking lists actually starts well before the event. Myself and the main scouts/strategists have significant discussions throughout buildseason, especially after the robot is shipped when we know our strengths and have some idea of how the game is played (by watching scrimmages and some of the early regionals). Having those thoughts in our mind, all the scouts and drivers meet on Friday night to make the picking list. We go though each team, show a picture of their robot, run through their statistics and read off the comments. Each team gets placed in one of three categories: Yes, Maybe, No (names don't really matter, can do 1,2,3). We then go through each category and further divide those teams into groups, until we have all the 'yes' and 'maybe' ranked. I like to have around 35 teams on the picking list on Friday night. On Saturday morning, we only scout those 35 teams and note if teams are doing better or worse than their rank. We then make the necessary changes to the picking list at the end of matches. Note: we make a picking list regardless of our rank. In the past we have been picked by a team that did not have a long enough picking list for the 2nd pick, so our list was used. Additionally, it is good to method to review each team's strengths and weaknesses for match strategy.

During the elimination matches (if we are lucky enough to be playing), myself and one or two of the other main scouts/strategists try to sit near the field with our alliance's scouts/strategists to start developing strategies for the next matches and rounds.


Note: In 2009, we did not have 6 scouts, but we used the same method. Although the statisics were certainly not as accurate (because we scouted about half of every team's matches), I think it still worked well enough.