Welcome to SPAMalytics for the 2025 FRC game REEFSCAPE!
The purpose of SPAMalytics is to provide a foundation for teams interested in data collection and analysis, but who don’t have a system of their own yet. Think of it as the Everybot of scouting.
SPAMalytics has very simple requirements. First, you’ll need a device that can open the Google Sheet. Second, you need to print a scouting sheet for every team competing at your event on Legal (14" x 8-1/2") paper. We use two-pronged manila folders and a file box to keep our sheets organized at events.
As always, I’m happy to answer any questions, either here or in the FRC Discord. I do ask that students keep any dialogue public, no DMs please.
Good luck in Reefscape!
https://bit.ly/SPAMalytics2025
2025 Scouting Sheet Legal v1.0.pdf (401.2 KB)
P.S. The Excel sheet has always been Warren’s baby, way back to when we used to call it the Poor Man’s Scouting System. With his retirement from FRC, that version is no longer being developed. Thank you, Warren.
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Couple questions on your form. First off we have been using your scout sheets for years and absolutely love them. The question I have this year is there a reason you didn’t separate level 2 and 3 coral? Also the coral scored column and algae scored column seems redundant. I could just be missing something. Thanks again for making this resource.
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Every year we try to collect as much information as we can, and this means finding a balance between two extremes. On one hand, you want to record every action every robot takes every match to get a complete picture of what’s happening. On the other, you want to collect as little as you can because your scouts are human and prone to mistakes if you ask too much of them.
There’s a lot going on in Reefscape and it’s happening fast. The answer to both of the questions you pose is compromise.
For tracking scoring cycles, these boxes serve different purposes. The first set of columns (one wide, one narrow) are the “tally and total” boxes we love for tracking things that will happen many times in a match. The next set of columns are meant to capture where they have scored that piece that match (0 if they didn’t score in that location, 1 if they did). A tally/total box for each location in AUTO and TELEOP would have captured a more complete picture of the match, but it’s impractical. It takes up far too much room on the page and requires too much attention from a scout in a game with cycles under 7 seconds. We lose the fidelity of knowing exactly what cycles are run each match, but that’s often misleading anyway due to alliance strategies regarding RPs. How often and where they can score are most important.
L2 and L3 were combined because they are similar to each other but distinct from L1 and L4. I haven’t seen many teams making the design choice to score on L2 without scoring on L3 or vice versa. Also, L2 and L3 look similar from the stands, so this is a scout-friendly decision as well.
I fear many teams will be overloading their scouts this year, and their data will be less accurate because of it. We are trying to prevent that while still collecting useful data for our decision makers.
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