Here is our 2008 game scouting database. 2008 Team 1511 Scouting Database
This database is intended to be used by any FIRST teams interested in recording match data on teams during practice, qualifying, and elimination rounds. The database is relatively simple consisting of a configuration menu, submission menu, and retrieval menu. Examples of these menus are attached in the picture files.
There is also a robot picture program so you can take the pictures of teams robots and easily bring them up in the retrieval menu.
The database can be networked to multiple computers to allow the scouting of 6 teams simultaneously during the match.
The program is dependent on Microsoft Excel being installed on the computer the database is run on. This is currently one of the only limitations of the program. Both the installer for the application and the source code are included in the zip file. Feel free to look through the source code written in LabVIEW 8.5 and modify for your own usage.
Keep an eye out for future updates and if there is any questions just contact me.
Awesome! Though I don’t necessarily have Excel ATM, I can easily “obtain” it before week 4. And I do hope you update it so there’s a place for placing the ball on the overpass, it appears to be missing.
Thanks to all of you for your interest in the database. I will make sure I add the ball on overpass field to the next revision. I am planning to get it out there before this weekend so we can use it at our regional. Josh, you can be the enforcer to make sure I get it done.
Excellent work. Great minds think alike – I’m glad I’m not the only person writing LabVIEW code for scouting purposes.
Currently I’m working on a run-time LabVIEW database. I’m hoping to connect the VEX controller to the laptop so the scouting members can hit the bumper switches to record lap times and how often teams hurdles/herds the balls.
this scouting software is incredible. thanks alot for making it! Having been the only strategist on my time for the past couple of years, I was nervous this year when I was told that i was receiving a team and i had to write scouting sheet up for them, but this is perfect. thanks again!
The way we ran our software last year, we had 6 laptops in constant rotation (team members would sit for 1-2 hours to capture data on every team in the match). It works best in real time, and is optimized for fast data entry. You also need some way to network the computers together (wires to a switch or wireless).
The information it spits out is amazing, and easily saved us 2-3 hours of strategy time for alliance selection for championships. Nice thing is you can use the data however you want in the end. We crank through teams using a tiered system Yes, No, Maybe, then within the Yes & Maybe’s we do ranks and subranks, which results in giving us a pretty good ordered list on Friday night. Then on Saturday we sit with the list and watch live adjusting the ranks as needed. While not a simple process, this mass amount of data easily sorted is a huge help. Hopefully this year’s data proves as useful (we tend to refine it after every event)!
Good luck, have fun, and keep the feedback coming!
(And huge thanks to Larry our Labview Scouting Genius :D)
I really liked the software and how well I was able to just go though all the data. i remember going though the system with you guys last year in Atlanta and was just totally impressed on how efficient and easy everything was. Another Amazing job Larry!
I will get a chance to play around with it a little more tomorrow, but from a first glance I think we could put this to some good use this year.
One thing that our scouting team decided we wanted to record was lap times for each team through out the match so if there is a way to incorporate that it would be amazing. Great Job so far!
It seems like there are some questions with the installation or configuration of the database. Make sure you read through the read me file located in the following location if you use the default installation path.
C:\Program Files\Team 1511 Scouting Database\data\read me.doc
This may help a little bit with the setup of the program.
Ok so here are some tips for installing.
You NEED to have Microsoft Excel installed on the computer you are running the database on. The database does uses Excel to build the datasheet where all the information is contained.
When you first run the program you will notice that only the configuration menu button is shown. I did this to ensure that the database is configured correctly before you start to read or write data. This was my way to allow users to select the path of an existing spreadsheet that they want to use instead of making the file mandatory in a set location. That being said make sure that you click the Change Filepath of Database button and browse to the spreadsheet you want to use. Once you have selected this sheet the program will save your settings and you will no longer need to link to that sheet. I hope this helps with some of the database file configuration issues.
Networking
Yes you can network together multiple computers and have it write to one database file. This is the way that we currently do our scouting. We hook up 7 computers to a router or hub which is the backbone of our network. Really any TCP/IP based network will work. Next is to designate a host computer. I usually pick the fastest one to do this since it has to receive all the information. On that host computer create the spreadsheet you want to use as your database file. Put it in a shared directory that allows access to read and write to that file. On the remaining 6 computers map a drive to the computer on the network to that folder. The next and final step is to go into your configuration menu and select the mapped drive and navigate to the spreadsheet. That should do it. I know it sounds like alot but it is really not that bad once you get it setup.
Once warning I have is to try to not all write to the database at the same time. The program will error saying it cannot write to the database. This is due to the file being locked up. It is not a big deal since it will just go back to the main submission screen and you can try again.
I hope that this helps out anyone that is having any problems getting things installed or configured. If there are any further questions let me know. Due to the recent increase of interest I will try to make it on more. Stay tuned for the next release! Featuring placement of ball on overpass! Thanks!
Here is version 1.0 of the scouting database. Basically it is the same as the previous version but has the addition of the place on overpass input as requested. I will try to work in some of the other suggestions I have received in this thread and release them in later versions.
I also noticed that when you first run the database and open the configure menu it prompts you to select the database automatically but in the windows default directory. Navigate to the following directory or select another spreadsheet file to get things going.
C:\Program Files\Team 1511 2008 Scouting Database\data\Scouting Database.xls
At this point I would also like to thank Danny Diaz from Team 418. Without his help none of this would be possible. Thanks!
Josh, you can be the enforcer to make sure I get it done. 