This is out first year trying to scout electronically. I was wondering if anybody has any suggestions/help they could offer?
Please and thank you.
Tons of excel electronic scouting examples are available in the CD white papers.
An easy way to pull it off is to scout on a paper sheet, then manually enter all the data into your developed scouting system. I have used excel for this for the past 5 years. Sometimes you see scouting systems using various types of electronic entry show up on CD around this time of year (wiimotes, mobile apps, etc), though you may be restricted to basing the scouting data you record into that system around however that system is built.
Team 422 is rolling out a full google doc-powered system this year. Expect a post at the end of the season, but for now we have made this public -> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YG26wzFVQD2z1TLsm1U4vWX7tjIIioqHsgrHD1ffuak/edit
Some food for thought:
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Always make sure you have an ICE scouting sheet. Just in case the system doesn’t work for competition, that sheet will save you.
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Make it platform specific. If this year you decide to create an app for iOS, then stick with it. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel each year by choosing a new platform and programming language.
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Make sure you have a working prototype, and then refine it, before you try making the program look pretty. You will get caught up in Photoshop instead of Netbeans, Eclipse, or Xcode.
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If you decide to create a network between the devices, make sure it is legal under the game rules. Team RUSH will be using a Bluetooth PAN, with a short enough radius to not interfere with the field.
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If the network is just too hard to create, you other option is always pulling the data from the scouters onto a computer, and running some code in Excel. Beware, these sheets can take a very long time to load up and run their macros.
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Getting the results to your pits: Think about this before you make any decisions. Will you be using a computer to do the main processing, or will you be using another tablet? If you decide to use a computer, you probably just want to print it off. But if you use another tablet, you can eliminate the time taken running down to the pits, and just message it to someone there.
I will be releasing an iOS based system this year, so if you have any questions about such a system, feel free to PM me here.
Over the past two years I have been working on a web based scouting program. This program utilizes HTML, Javascript, and PHP to input, store, display, and analyze scouting data. The primary advantage of building the program for the web is that it can be viewed by any device that can access the internet. This year we will be creating a wired internet network in the stands as wifi is prohibited by the rules. We will have six scouts armed with laptops, smart phones, or 3g/4g connected tablets to watch one robot per match for the entire competition. Additionally before qualifying matches start we will be collecting robot photos (with teams permission of course). Our data can be viewed in realtime from anywhere with an internet connection. It’s taken a lot of effort to get the software to where it is today, but I think its going to be really useful during competitions.
If this is anything like what you are looking for, I’m happy to help you in any way I can.
Team 2410 has created a scouting app for Android. It is still in the beta stage, but it looks good. Here is the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.frc2410.scoutingapplication&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd. Here is the link to the CD post where I found it: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112261&highlight=New+Scouting+App
*Team 2410
Thanks for the mention!
We have a scouting app for android and one for desktop - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113383