CASE FILE · PRODUCT 001 · 2025 — PRESENT

Maneuver: Strategy that works offline.

An open-source FRC scouting and strategy platform designed and engineered for the real conditions of robotics competition.

8,000+people15 countriesglobal reachEnd to enddesign + engineering
OPEN MANEUVER ↗VIEW SOURCE ↗
Maneuver match strategy workspace showing alliance data and a drawn field plan
Match strategy brings field planning and scouting data into one shared workspace.

The challenge

How do you design a data-intensive strategy platform for people using phones, tablets, and laptops inside crowded robotics competitions where connectivity cannot be trusted?

Designing for competition

Maneuver serves two very different modes of attention: scouts recording rapid observations in the stands and analysts making consequential decisions from dense information. The interface has to support both without assuming a quiet room, a large screen, or a reliable network.

Fast input

Scouts need speed

Large touch targets, short paths, and game-specific inputs help people record a match quickly in a loud, time-constrained environment.

Dense analysis

Strategists need context

Analytics must reveal patterns without hiding the underlying match data that lets a team trust and act on the result.

Any device

Teams bring what they have

The same workflows have to remain clear across phones in the stands, tablets in the pit, and laptops at the strategy table.

From UX constraints to architecture

The technical architecture followed from the experience the product needed to guarantee. Each constraint became a system decision.

USER NEEDOffline requirement
PRODUCT DECISIONIndexedDB

Every core workflow remains available when venue connectivity disappears.

USER NEEDNo server requirement
PRODUCT DECISIONLocal-first architecture

Teams can start scouting without deploying or maintaining infrastructure.

USER NEEDMultiple scouting devices
PRODUCT DECISIONQR fountain codes + WebRTC

Data moves between devices through resilient, flexible transfer paths.

USER NEEDDifferent games every year
PRODUCT DECISIONYear-agnostic framework

Annual game rules can change without rebuilding the product from scratch.

Strategy, not just data collection

The product follows the decision-making journey from observation to action. Each workflow exists because the next one depends on it.

  1. 01

    Match scouting

    Capture what a robot actually does, quickly and consistently.

  2. 02

    Analytics

    Turn many observations into comparable performance patterns.

  3. 03

    Pick lists

    Help teams weigh capability, reliability, and strategic fit.

  4. 04

    Match strategy

    Bring alliance data into a shared plan teams can use on the field.

Maneuver autonomous match scouting interface with a tappable field map and recent actions
01 Match scouting →
Maneuver strategy overview with a performance chart and dense team statistics table
02 Analytics →
Maneuver pick-list interface showing available teams and alliance selections
03 Pick lists →
Maneuver match strategy interface with a drawn field plan and alliance data
04 Match strategy

Designing with real users

Maneuver reached 8,000+ users across 15 countries, ranging from teams building their first scouting program to teams competing at the FIRST World Championship.

EVENT STORY 01

The 31st-ranked robot

A defense-focused robot entered an event ranked 31st—a position that made it easy to overlook through standings alone.

Maneuver’s scouting data surfaced the robot’s strategic value on defense, revealing a contribution the ranking did not capture.

The moment clarified the product’s job: not to replace team judgment, but to make the evidence visible when a single number flattens it.

EVENT STORY 02

From the stands to Worlds

At the FIRST World Championship, teams relied on the same Maneuver workflows in the highest-pressure environment in the program.

Seeing the product in use at the sport’s largest event made its reach tangible—and made stability, edge cases, and support part of the design experience.

Operating the product

Once thousands of people were relying on Maneuver during competitions, the way I approached development changed. Bugs could affect teams competing that weekend. New features had to be balanced against stability. User reports exposed workflows, devices, and edge cases I hadn’t anticipated.

Operating Maneuver taught me to treat design as an ongoing conversation with users rather than something completed before implementation.