first fare 2010 competitive analysis and scouting

Competitive Analysis and Scouting

Henry Gordon

Monday, November 1, 2010

Henry Gordon

• 7 Years of FIRST Experience

• Competitive Analysis and Marketing Manager for Team 1540

• Won the Colorado Regional

• 2010 Dean’s List Finalist


Overview• Why Scouting?

• FIRST Tournament Structure

• Alliances

• Eliminations

• Strategy Development

• Scouting Systems

• Advanced Topics

• Q+AMonday, November 1, 2010

Why Scout?

• One team can make or break an alliance

• Requires relatively low resources

• Can utilize many members

• Long and short term benefits

• Neglected by far too many teams

• Give you a leg up on the competition

• Essential for alliance picking


FIRST Competitions

• Tournament Structure

• Alliances

• Match Structure

• Strategy + Scouting


Tournament Structure• Various sizes, generally between 40-60

• Autodesk Oregon - 54 Teams

• Teams play 9-10 qualification matches

• 3 Days

• Day 1 - Practice

• Day 2 - Compete

• Day 3 - Eliminate

• Judging occur throughout the tournament


Alliances

• What are they?

• “Team of teams”

• 3 teams playing towards one goal

• Strategy becomes essential


Strategy and Scouting at Events

• Division of Labor

• 2-3 people on interpretation

• 6+ people on data collection

• Adaptable

• USE SHIFTS

• Develop a “pick list” early, update often

• Constantly watch for other team’s strategy changes


Strategy Development

• Should be in the back of your head at al times

• The most important part of the victory

• Can elevate or ensure chances of victory

• Day 1

• Week 1

• Match 1


Day 1

• First day of the build season

• Evaluate the game BEFORE you design the robot

• Hard to go through the build process without an aim


Analyzing the Game

• Read the rules!

• Examine every possible way to score points

• Examine every defensive strategy

• Understand the ranking system

• Consider possible game strategies

• Find any possible chokeholds


Cost-Benefit

• Difficulty v. Reward

• Best task are easy and fruitful

• Rule of absolutes

• -10 points for your opponent = 10 points for you

• Prioritize!


Week 1

• Watching other opponents is crucial for evaluating your strategy

• Confirm or deny your initial guesses about the game

• Watch webcasts and take notes

• Focus on teams that you will meet in ensuing weeks


Match 1

• Begin your field scouting once the robots hit the field

• 8 people in the stands at all times

• 6 scouts, 2 supervisors

• Take notes and feed them to your drive team

• Watch for changes in strategy as well as “Sleepers”


Scouting Systems

• Different for all teams

• Essential

• Find the system that works for you


The Basics

• Subjective Scouting

• Objective Scouting

• Data Gathering

• Data Interpretation

• Alliance Selection


Subjective Scouting• Begins in the Pits

• Evaluate every team

• Start on Thursday

• Take pictures of every robot

• Team # + Any interesting features

• Things to observe

• Functions

• Type of Drivetrain

• # of wheels, traction/wheel type, # of motors

• Build Quality

• Ask Questions!


Subjective Scouting

• In the stands

• Build comments into objective scoring

• Record comments

• Track observations that data cannot provide

• General strategy and tendencies

• Driver skill


Objective Scouting• Watch every match

• Track

• Match score

• Points scored by each team

• Scoring attempts

• Penalties

• Autonomous v. Tele-op

• Starting position

• Any other statistic pertinent to the challenge

•Monday, November 1, 2010

Objective Scouting

• Teams of 3-6 people

• Rotate people throughout the day

• Forced scouting makes data unreliable

• Make it fun.


Data Collection

• Various input methods

• Wii Controllers

• Pen and Paper

• Other solutions

• Build into a database

• Very efficient way of doing think

• Very easy to generate stats

• Requires laptops

• Difficulty synchronizing


Data Interpretation

• At least two people on interpretation

• Generate reports on each team over the course of the tournament

• Databases make this easy

• Develop a ranking formula

• Ax +By+Cz etc...

• Collate objective data with subjective data


Alliances• Starting on thursday

• Observe robots in the pit

• Continues friday

• Watch for outstanding play

• Friday night

• Make a draft pick list

• Review your data (subjective and objective

• Establish what you need in a partner

• Rank teams from 1-28

• Make notes of teams to observe on SaturdayMonday, November 1, 2010

Alliances

• On Saturday

• Observe potential teams

• Beware of admirers!

• Finalize your pick list

• Prepare your representative with notes, clipboards etc.


Advanced Topics

• OPR and Matrix Math

• Using Excel to your advantage

• Colorado Example


OPR and CCWM

• Used for calculations without the need for scouting

• Uses matrices


Final Thoughts

• Do what is best for your team

• Prioritize scouting, it’s the easiest way to improve your performance

• Understand the game and how its played

• Understand your competition


Useful Links• FIRST

• usfirst.org

• The Blue Alliance

• thebluealliance.net

• Chief Delphi

• chiefdelphi.com

• WPI Thinktank

• thinktank.wpi.edu

• Team 1114 - Simbotics

• team1114.com


Questions?

• [email protected]

• Email me - I love this stuff


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

first fare 2010 competitive analysis and scouting

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