From a judges POV or someone who has done this, do judges like to see scouting? I am unsure to put it in the notebook or not.
Hello, and welcome to the forum! From what I know, the judges like to see careful thought put into the notebook. As my team’s notebooker, I didn’t put scouting in our notebook, and we won a notebook award. Personally, I don’t think it would hurt to include it, but if you do so you might want to write all of the scouting on a separate sheet and then tape it in or copy the contents into your notebook.
1 Like
Yes, I have won design and excellence before without it, and I just wonder if judges see it as a waste of time. I might do the top teams in the notebook as preparations for state in a month, but haven’t before.
1 Like
Good job on winning those! On my team we do most of our notebooking following tournaments, and we take point totals, statistics, rankings, and a general summary. Maybe you can include the scouting process in an overview entry.
1 Like
I would recommend doing this, especially if you can say what you learned from scouting. This could be taking inspiration for a mechanism, or just building something on your robot to “counter” many designs you see.
4 Likes
True! I know in our notebook we cite sources (ex. 123A from vexfourms.com under xyz) but in a tournament is a great idea too. Thank you so much for your help!
1 Like
The judges will initially be reviewing your engineering notebook using the rubric on page 46 of the judges guide (download a copy of the Judges’ guide here: https://www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2019/08/judge-guide.pdf/).
Here’s what typically happens at an event: at the beginning of an event, the judges will quickly review all the engineering notebooks. About half the notebooks will be set aside because they are obviously lacking, and will not qualify for any judged awards. The “good” notebooks will then be evaluated against the rubric (on page 46). If the judge reading the book can easily find and evaluate the rubric elements, the notebook will score well. The 2 or 3 highest scoring notebooks (maybe more, maybe less…at worlds, there are usually 3-6 notebooks per division that get perfect scores), will go on for consideration for design and excellence awards. The Interview will ultimately be what determines who receives the awards. Many teams don’t prepare well for the interview, and thus all the time spent on the notebook is wasted by a poor team presentation at the interview.
9 Likes
The answer is “yes” to including scouting information in the notebook if you connect it to your design process. It could be considered part of the Research and Possible Solutions phases of design process. How you use the information should be made clear. Also, match reflection is an integral part of the process if you connect the observations to validating your design, with match being “testing”, or identifying new problems/needs to be addressed.
4 Likes
Yes, definitely include scouting in your notebook, and make sure you cite the team that you scout, or draw inspiration from, and how that team impacted your thoughts in the design process. This can go for any and every team at any skill level that you observed. We had a judge explicitly tell us to continue to scout and draw on that to inform our design process, and the design process is what the notebook is all about. In addition, I think it’s important to mention that notebooking/documenting can go far beyond the rubric; as my team’s notebooker I’m always try to improve our documentation, as it is one of, if not the most important aspect of the engineering/scientific process, and so many ideas can come out of trying to improve documentation. We’ve won the design award while using this method.
1 Like
Yeah I understand that, I think it just comes down to personal choice and how you present it. Obviously, it wouldn’t just be information with no ties, I relate everything back to the Eng. DP in some sort of way.
Always! In my experience there is two types of judges, the ones by the rubrics and ones that love to see the above and beyond so catering to both is impornat. Thanks!
It certainly can, and should…but the points I was trying to express were (1) that the notebook must start by meeting the minimum requirements set out in the judges guide (many teams don’t even know about or read the document), and (2) the quality of your interview is equally important as the quality of your EN.
1 Like
what is scouting I am our journalist for a junior high but is going against other highschoolers
Just because you’re in middle school doesn’t mean you’re uneven playing field. It may be your first year but so it is that seniors first year! Looking at resources are such a great way to get going. You can look here, YouTube, discord, ask others at tournaments, and so much more! Plus it will prepare you for more when you’re in high school if you continue vex
3 Likes
Scouting means your team is checking out the other teams at the event by talking with them and/or observing their bot in competition, so that you can make an informed decision when it is time to pick your alliance partner for the eliminations. Generally you’re looking for the bot that best complements your own robot’s capabilities.
4 Likes
It also involves to an extent forming relationships with other teams, connecting with your alliance partners and forming a strategy for elimination matches, and taking note of different designs and capabilities in your region to better formulate your design/strategy for your next competition, or just in general.
2 Likes