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.
the part worth keeping
Key takeaways
- Match sheets capture the floor (per-match reliability and counts); pit sheets capture the ceiling (mechanism capability).
- Use AVERAGEIF/MAXIFS/COUNTIFS to roll raw entries into per-team averages and a 'died' reliability flag.
- Validate by double-scouting the same robot from match video; large disagreements mean your fields are ambiguous.
Drive TeamWorked Examples & Mini-Projectslesson 3 of 5
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where this came from
Sources and corrections
This lesson is AI-assisted: drafted from primary sources, then reviewed and edited by hand. Errors still get through. When one is reported we fix it and write down what changed, in public, in the corrections log.
sources and further reading
- firstinspires.orgFIRST: Introduction to Scouting Guide (PDF)
- thebluealliance.comThe Blue Alliance (match video & results)
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The lesson gets you through the topic. These go wider on it, and they read in one sitting.
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- 20 min readBuilding an FRC Scouting App: Data Model, TBA/Statbotics APIs, and PicklistsBuild an FRC scouting app: match and pit scouting, a simple data model, pulling schedules and EPA from the TBA and Statbotics APIs, and building a picklist./blogread it
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answer sheet
Lesson quiz
All 3 right completes the lesson. Miss one and only that question comes back, anything you already answered correctly stays banked.
0 of 3 answered
01When designing a paper + spreadsheet scouting system, what is a recommended way to organize the workbook?
02Why should a paper scouting sheet be kept to a single half-page focused on what is countable and decision-relevant?
03How do match scouting and pit scouting differ in what they reveal about a team?
Answer every question to submit.
All 34 lessons in Drive Teamopenclose
01 / prerequisites
02 / the-drive-team-and-its-roles
03 / driver-station-and-controls
04 / driver-practice-and-match-performance
05 / the-pit-and-match-turnaround
06 / worked-examples-mini-projects
- Not read yet:Project 1: A Production-Ready Driver Control Scheme
- Not read yet:Project 2: A Drivetrain That Survives a Whole Match
- Not read yet:Project 3: Build a Paper + Spreadsheet Scouting System
- Not read yet:Project 4: Pull Live OPR & EPA Data with Python
- Not read yet:Project 5: The One-Page Pre-Match Strategy Brief
07 / common-mistakes-troubleshooting
08 / advanced-strategy-case-studies