paper: Aluminum Falcons (FRC2168) 2011 Scouting System Ver 1.1

[BX MARK]

Team 1023 is currently planning on using this system

[liam.larkin]

We think (272) we will be using it. I am currently running it through some simulations. I would really love to get my hands on the source code if I could. There is some mods I would like to develop. I understand if you cant never blame someone for holding onto their intellectual property

[liam.larkin]

Something else I think your system is scoring incorectly???????

<G65> The PEG SCORE is the sum of points determined by the positions of the GAME PIECES on each SCORING GRID. A LOGO PIECES HANGING in front of an UBERTUBE doubles the points for that SCORING PEG.

I have been interpreting this to mean that the ubbertubes are merely doublers and do not in of them selves provide points. Your system seems to be implying that they do. For instance if I but nothing but an ubbertube on the top row your system indicates a score of 6. My understanding is this would be 0 unless another game piece was over the ubbertube. The ubbertube would then double the value and make it worth 6.

Have I been reading this incorrectly the whole time. Im confussing myself now..........

[Kristian Calhoun]

Originally Posted by liam.larkin

Something else I think your system is scoring incorectly???????

<G65> The PEG SCORE is the sum of points determined by the positions of the GAME PIECES on each SCORING GRID. A LOGO PIECES HANGING in front of an UBERTUBE doubles the points for that SCORING PEG.

I have been interpreting this to mean that the ubbertubes are merely doublers and do not in of them selves provide points. Your system seems to be implying that they do. For instance if I but nothing but an ubbertube on the top row your system indicates a score of 6. My understanding is this would be 0 unless another game piece was over the ubbertube. The ubbertube would then double the value and make it worth 6.

Have I been reading this incorrectly the whole time. Im confussing myself now..........

Take a look at <G64>. The UBERTUBES contribute points towards the AUTONOMOUS SCORE, which would be where the 6 points are coming from in your example. Additionally, the UBERTUBES double the score of any tube that is placed over them, and that contributes to the PEG SCORE (see <G65>). By <G63> the MATCH SCORE is the sum of the AUTONOMOUS SCORE, PEG SCORE, LOGO BONUS, and RACE SCORE.

[jwfoss]

Kristian beat me to it.

Thanks to those who have thus far said you plan to use the system. I hope it serves you well.

[liam.larkin]

hahahahahah i feel like such an idiot. HOW DID I MISS THIS. You guys just made my day though........I am such a rule hound too........Got a little to cocky for my own good I guess.........

[Jstack14]

Awesome! I am sure any other errors will be discovered by ocmpetition! With the delete feature i have total confidence in this system and its ability to not only be fairly quick, but also acurate. I am going to convince my team to use htis system and i am sure that will be a simple task. Looking great!

[Josh Fritsch]

Ya, I think this update took care of all of the obvious bugs. Nice job.

[Sundance Kid]

Originally Posted by jwfoss

Update 1.4
Corrected Various Programming Issues.

Thanks again for positive comments and suggestions. Sorry we cannot add or change everything suggested but we will strive to fix things are not working correctly.

For those of you currently planning to use our system, please post here as we would love to see the number of teams using it.

Also, if you are going to be at BAE, SBPLI, WPI, or CT I'd love to stop by and talk to you about it.

FRC2168 will be at WPI and CT.

Team 1991 (The Dragons) will be at both WPI & CT. So far this looks very good/useful and well thought out. We also would like to use this and will provide any comments we come up with.

[Sundance Kid]

Just checked the database out. Seems that you can't clear the "Scout Data input" sheet, so previous teams stuff remains. It would be nice to be able to clear the tube info (just add the option to accept a "blank") especially if someone who is inputting the info makes a mistake.

[Carter12s]

WOW WOW WOW!!! This is fantastic! I will be guaranteeing that 3374 will be using this! You did a fantastic job and should be extremely proud. Thank you so much for uploading this you are incredibly generous!

[Bill_B]

Fantastic start guys. There is much than can be done to improve usability, particularly on the data input page.

1. the view ribbon should be turned off for later excel versions to give more room in the display.

2. change data input page to horizontal layout, most laptop screens are have the wider ratio these days.
3. attributes area should start more neutral values - penalties=yes pretty harsh opening value
4. if there are only two possible values, having a drop-down control to specify them is tedious. use radio buttons for this instance.
5. must be a reset button for sheet so next page of data can be entered. Things will get hectic at the tournament, so making this as easy and foolproof as possible is a top priority.
6.add entry control should be disabled unless data is entered in sheet correctly, e.g. valid team number and reasonable match number at least. This will also prevent double entries if reset of sheet is done as part of add entry process.
7.tube placement logic check should prevent a single robot from multiple ubertube placement. I know it's possible, but so unlikely that it should be excluded from score sheet.
8. robot speed estimate 1,2,3,4,5 1 being lowest? 5 highest? I hope your formulas later do NOT average or do other arithmetic with those "numbers". It is unlikely that one scorer's 3 will mean the same as another's let alone have some sort of linear relation to the other values. Just because they're numbers does not mean you can do meaningful arithmetic with them.
9.printed sheet minibot activity does not have a "did not attempt" option
10. could be possible to make either a by-match or by-team set of printed sheets by input of number of matches or input of team number or numbers. At some point you will know the match and team information for a tournament. if match information is known, it could be a factor in the verification of input data suggested in #6,

Sounds like I don't like it? to the contrary, I would not have spent so much time in analysis of this if I thought it were not possible to improve. Can I convince my team to try it? You're a teen or know about them. What are my chances?

[donnie99]

I love this system, this is an awesome way, considering we've been wanting to change over to laptops for socouting after last year,(bad experiences), but our team decided that we should also have a place to put how many tubes they possessed, to see how efficient the robot is at scoring, u don't want a robot that scores %50 and scores 4 tubes, against a more efficient robot

[jwfoss]

Thanks again for all of the comments. Now that competition season is officially here we will only be editing for glitches. I will have to talk to the other developer about providing the passwords to those who truely want them.

New Update 1.5:
- Clears entries after inputting.
- Won't allow entries unless there is a team number and a match number

[Carter12s]

I just had a quick question on compatabillity. I have used the system just fine on a computer running excel 2003, but cannot get it to run at all on excel 2010 the error I get is

This workbook has lost its VBA project, ActiveX controls and any other programmability-related features.

It is not super important, but has anyone found a workaround for this, or do I just need to get some more computers with excel 2003?

Thanks!