What questions are you asking for pit scouting? I feel like I’m missing something, but I think the only things to really track are drive train, wheel diameter, can it go through each defense, can it low goal, can it high goal, does it human player, does it climb. But I feel like I’m missing something…
Basically, ask questions that you can’t get by watching a match. I wouldn’t bother asking whether or not it can go through defenses, just watch the robot on the field. Always take whatever a team says they can do with a grain of salt. Teams often say their robot has an ability and sell it as if they can do it every match, when in reality, they’ve done it once (maybe) and it was the best match they ever had that year.
When it comes to pit scouting, I like to know more about the drive team really. Knowing what kind of drivetrain they have can be important (if they have swerve or something like that), but I think what is more important is how much time they’ve had to practice with that robot or at least with that drive configuration. We want to know how much experience the drivers have. I also like to have information about who the coach is, what their experience is, whether it’s an adult or student, etc., so our drive team is going to know what to expect when they go talk to them. Should they bring an adult if another coach on their alliance is an FRC veteran for 15 years? Of course.
Additionally, one of the most important things is having a picture of the robot. Make sure it’s a clear picture with the team’s number. If you’re savvy enough, you can put it in your match scouting sheets/application so your scouters can more easily identify robots. You’ll also want it to jog your memory for pick list and strategy discussions.
Other things you might want to look at on Thursday morning is how frantic the pit members are. If they’re scrambling to get something put on their robot, that might mean they are putting on a device that may or may not get tested out later that day. Are the pit members sitting in their pit with their robot playing with their cell phones? It sounds to me like they probably don’t care. Are they rarely in their pit at all? This could be a good thing. If they’re constantly getting practice matches in, they’re might be one of the best practiced drive teams there with the real equipment. It could also be a bad thing if they’re trying to debug something on the practice field. You should send someone there to look.
We’re tracking a few things this year: what defenses they can do (mostly for the first few matches); what autons they have, what type of drivetrain, and a 1-5 rating of bumper quality
We do:
Drivetrain
Photo
Weight
Height
Willingness to alter the robot for the playoff rounds
Several other preference questions
Everything else is done through match scouting
As always I teach my students, with regards to pit scouting, believe it when you see it. Ask questions in pit scouting that might be hard to tell from the stands. What kind of drivetrain do they have. What kind of people are the drive team, are the experienced and confident or are they new and terrified. Get a picture of the robot. Find out what preferences they have in auto and what they say they can do. But again, believe it when you see it. The other things that I would ask for this game are: do you have a climber/ is it working/ will you have one. Are you willing to have something strapped to your robot during elims so you can play defense if we need you to.