Business at Competition: Scouting, Strategy, and Logistics

Business Does Not Stop at the Pit Door#

A common misconception is that business work ends when competition starts. In fact, at events the business and operations sub-team often runs scouting, strategy, logistics, and award presentations, the off-field machine that makes the on-field robot succeed.

Scouting#

Scouting is collecting data on every robot at an event to inform strategy and alliance selection. It splits into:

• Match scouting — recording what each robot does during qualification matches (scoring, defense, reliability, cycle times).
• Pit scouting — interviewing teams in their pits for information you cannot see in matches (robot capabilities, drivetrain, strategy preferences).

Scouting is frequently organized by business/strategy members because it is a logistics and data-management challenge: assigning scouts, collecting clean data, and turning it into decisions. Teams use paper sheets or apps like ScoutingPASS, then analyze the data to build a pick list.

Strategy and Alliance Selection#

The payoff of scouting is two-fold:

• Match strategy — knowing your alliance partners' and opponents' capabilities lets you plan each match.
• Alliance selection — at the end of qualifications, the top-seeded teams become alliance captains and pick partners for the playoffs. A good, data-driven pick list is a major competitive advantage. Public data sources like The Blue Alliance and Statbotics supplement your own scouting with match results, rankings, and statistical metrics (EPA, OPR, and similar).

Logistics at Events#

Business/operations handles the practical machine of attending an event:

• Travel, hotels, and meals.
• Pit setup, organization, and the pit display/banner.
• Tracking the match schedule and getting drivers and the robot to the field on time.
• Managing the team's queue for judging and award interviews.
• Remember the event robot-access rules: FIRST removed the old "work only during posted pit hours" restriction (rule R304) starting with the 2026 season, but venue rules still apply — teams generally cannot bring in outside work or parts once the event's load-in period ends, so logistics planning should fit within each event's posted schedule and the current game manual's rules.

Award Presentations and Judges#

Business members typically lead the team's interactions with judges, including the Impact Award presentation and the pit interviews where judges roam asking about the team. Preparing concise, confident answers about the team's mission, outreach, and sustainability is core business work, and it directly determines award outcomes.

The Big Picture#

At competition, business turns a good robot into a winning, award-earning team. Scouting wins playoff matches, logistics keeps the team functioning, and strong judge interactions win the off-field awards that, through the Impact Award, can send a team to the FIRST Championship and ultimately the Hall of Fame.