VEX Scouting Webapp
This application is a comprehensive scouting tool that I designed specifically for VEX Robotics competitions. It addresses a common challenge faced by robotics teams: efficiently gathering, organizing, and analyzing data on other teams and robots to inform match strategy and alliance selection. In fast-paced, data-driven competitive environments, making informed decisions quickly can be the difference between winning and losing, and this tool helps teams do exactly that.
Why It’s Useful
Manual spreadsheet-based scouting is time-consuming, inconsistent, and often disorganized, and google-forms-based scouting isn't much better. This software automates and standardizes the scouting process, enabling teams to track robot attributes with ease. It allows teams to:
- Identify high-performing or complementary alliance partners
- Strategically prepare for matches with opponent-specific data
Key Features Include
- Team and Robot Management: Validates and stores detailed information about teams and their robots, including drivetrain types, scoring mechanisms, and autonomous capabilities.
- Event Scouting: Integrates with the RobotEvents API to fetch real-time data about events and teams, simplifying the process of scouting at local and national competitions.
- Image Processing: Supports uploading, storing, and auto-generating thumbnails of robot images to assist with visual identification and comparison.
- User Roles and Authentication: Implements role-based access control (Admin, Scout, User) and secure login to protect sensitive team data and control feature access.
- Database Integration: Uses SQLite to reliably store and retrieve information on teams, events, images, and user activity with minimal setup.
- Flask Framework: Built on Flask for a lightweight yet scalable backend, featuring structured blueprints, request logging, and robust error handling.
- Validation and Data Integrity: Enforces input constraints to prevent invalid or duplicate data, ensuring the quality of scouting records.
In Summary
This application streamlines and elevates the scouting process for VEX robotics teams, enabling better strategy through structured data collection, powerful analysis, and intuitive user management. It turns scouting from a manual chore into a competitive advantage.
Development Highlights
The app is built on Flask with structured blueprints and SQLite for testing and PostgreSQL for production deployment. Features like role-based access control, image processing, and integration with RobotEvents API required careful planning to ensure data integrity and user security. The system was tested across multiple events to guarantee reliability in real-world competitive settings.
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