Project 3: Build a Paper + Spreadsheet Scouting System

You don't need an app to scout well. A clean paper sheet plus a spreadsheet beats a buggy app that nobody trusts. This project builds both, tailored to REBUILT scoring.

Design the match sheet. One scout watches one robot for one match. Capture only what's countable and decision-relevant. For REBUILT, the scoreable actions are FUEL scored into an active HUB (1 point each in both auto and teleop) and TOWER climbs. The climb values are worth confirming on your sheet because they differ by phase: an auto Level-1 climb is worth 15 points (max two robots in auto), while teleop TOWER climbs are worth 10 (Level 1), 20 (Level 2), and 30 (Level 3). A good sheet has these fields:

• Header: Match #, Team #, Scout name, Alliance color
• Auto: tally box for FUEL scored, checkbox for auto TOWER Level-1 climb, checkbox "left starting zone"
• Teleop: tally box for FUEL scored, circle the highest teleop TOWER level reached (1, 2, 3, or none)
• Qualitative: circle one — Reliable / Tippy / Died / Fouled; and a one-line notes field

Keep it to a single half-page so a scout can fill it in real time without looking down for long.

Design the pit sheet. Pit scouting captures things you can't see from the stands: drivetrain type (swerve / tank / mecanum), claimed cycle time, climb capability, preferred starting position, and any known reliability issues. Add a photo field (snap the robot with a phone). This is where you learn a team's ceiling; match scouting tells you their floor.

Build the spreadsheet. Make a Google Sheet with one row per scouting entry and columns matching your fields. Then a summary tab with one row per team using formulas:

Avg auto fuel:  =AVERAGEIF(Data!$B:$B, A2, Data!$D:$D)
Avg teleop fuel: =AVERAGEIF(Data!$B:$B, A2, Data!$E:$E)
Max TOWER level: =MAXIFS(Data!$F:$F, Data!$B:$B, A2)
Matches died:    =COUNTIFS(Data!$B:$B, A2, Data!$G:$G, "Died")

Now sort the summary by a combined score (average teleop FUEL plus the points from each team's typical climb) to get a rough scoring rank. Add a conditional-format red flag on any team with Matches died >= 2 — those are alliance-selection landmines.

Pilot it. Run your system on a past event by re-watching match video on The Blue Alliance. Have two scouts independently score the same robot in the same match; if their FUEL counts differ by more than about 15%, your sheet is ambiguous — tighten the definitions. The goal is that any two scouts produce nearly the same numbers, because consistency is what makes the data trustworthy on Saturday.