Scouting for FRC during competition?

[xay]

Hey guys, my team has developed a way to actually get scouting done fairly quickly, but it requires an internet connect or Bluetooth. Basically a way to connect a laptop in the stands with the one in the pit. I know we are not allowed to use a router or anything like that, what suggestions would you have to actually connect these laptops together, that isn't using a hard wire?

[MrForbes]

Sneakernet.

[xay]

Originally Posted by MrForbes

Sneakernet.

Yes, but this is not wireless and would need a person to carry a flash drive over right? Are there any wireless options? That are legal of course.

[D_Price]

Unfortunately there are not. Due to rules.

Originally Posted by xay

Yes, but this is not wireless and would need a person to carry a flash drive over right? Are there any wireless options? That are legal of course.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by xay

Yes, but this is not wireless and would need a person to carry a flash drive over right? Are there any wireless options? That are legal of course.

There are a lot of wireless options. None are legal.

Except maybe this one: IF, and ONLY IF, the venue has a wireless network active (and I mean the venue. Not the field. Not the teams. The venue.) that teams didn't arrange for, and teams are allowed to access it, then maybe there's a way to work around that. That being said, that's rather unlikely.

[MrForbes]

Flash drive? I was thinking floppy disks...




.

[BitTwiddler]

Team Storm Robotics 2729 has a nice solution using Android devices and QRC codes to transfer data. I believe they are working on this year's scouting app now.
I hope they see this and weigh in.

[arbym]

We have fashioned a Raspberry PI with a Bluetooth USB dongle. It acts as a bluetooth router for our tablets. Attached is documentation.

[GeeTwo]

"Air cards" that use the cell phone network directly would be legal as far as I can tell. This is between the stands and the pit, not the stands and the drive crew. The drive crew is not allowed any powered communications devices, even flashlights.

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

"Air cards" that use the cell phone network directly would be legal as far as I can tell. This is between the stands and the pit, not the stands and the drive crew. The drive crew is not allowed any powered communications devices, even flashlights.

This.

This is how 1678 does our scouting system, we have a cell phone internet hotspot thing that we hook our tablets up with(we used something a little different this year, I think we uploaded after each match). We upload to the cloud or something and have a phone app that pulls data from there.

I don't know that much about what I am talking about, read our white paper on scouting.

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

This.

This is how 1678 does our scouting system, we have a cell phone internet hotspot thing that we hook our tablets up with(we used something a little different this year, I think we uploaded after each match). We upload to the cloud or something and have a phone app that pulls data from there.

I don't know that much about what I am talking about, read our white paper on scouting.

Here's the whitepaper with the specs. We use Bluetooth to collect data from our tablets, which is also legal. Our drive coach calls the system his "b*s* sniffer."

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/3156?

[theawesome1730]

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.

-Andrew Tanenbaum

[Jaxom]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

This.

This is how 1678 does our scouting system, we have a cell phone internet hotspot thing that we hook our tablets up with(we used something a little different this year, I think we uploaded after each match). We upload to the cloud or something and have a phone app that pulls data from there.

I don't know that much about what I am talking about, read our white paper on scouting.

Except that cell phone hot spots are not allowed. Rule T4, section 5.5.1.

[Anteprefix]

Originally Posted by Jaxom

Except that cell phone hot spots are not allowed. Rule T4, section 5.5.1.

Devin misspoke. We use Bluetooth for inter-tablet communication, not a wifi hotspot.

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

This.

cell phone internet hotspot thing that we hook our tablets up with

I don't know that much about what I am talking about, read our white paper on scouting.

I never said wifi hotspot, btw. Cell-phone-internet hotspot-thing, was my intended meaning. I should have worded it better

So, bluetooth works, you can do ethernet but the cords getting tangled can be an issue.