Founded in 2025, the Data Science subteam is the newest addition to 449. We inform team decisions with data, both on (Scouting & Strategy) and off (Operations & Outreach) the field. In our first season, we developed pRidge, a new FRC performance metric detailed in our 2026 white paper. pRidge has been shown to improve on EPA by more than 6% in Mean Squared Error—and by 12% compared to OPR—since 2022.
We work primarily in R, creating interactive shinyapps for data visualization and collecting data via custom QRScout jsons. We strongly believe in the cultivation of a positive scouting culture and open collaboration within FRC—accordingly, all of our software is open-source. At the 2026 Chesapeake District Championship, we released our complete scouting shinyapp—and its code! During the off-season, Data Science works on data analysis projects such as continued pRidge research, an attendance application, and a potential custom Statbotics. Bunnybots—our off-season event that enables rookie members to experience the robotics process before the official season—also provides the Data Science team with an excellent opportunity to refine our skills and deliver easily accessible data to everyone at the event.
Beyond software development, we have been frequent attendees at the FRC Team Development Conference, presenting on topics such as:
And Here We Steal ALL The Rookies
During competitions, Data Science collects match data, provides strategy briefings, and creates our picklist. After coding that year’s scouting pipeline as data scientists, our members become strategists and communicate meaningful match predictions or strategic insights to provide a competitive edge. We operate largely outside the pits—instead spending most of our time in the stands—waiting with bated breath (and thinking hard about strategy) as pit crew fixes the robot. As a new subteam, we are quite familiar with building people from any starting point. Members learn basic programming, statistics, data visualization, and software development while working on projects with real competitive impact. Prior coding experience is not expected; by the end of the season, members will have experience with Github, R, Shiny, and the aforementioned skills—tools applicable outside of the FRC world as well.
If you would like to contact the 449 Data Science team, email us (449datascience@gmail.com) or show up to a 449 meeting on Tuesday or Saturday!
