DRIVER STATION DESIGNS

[ABA]

im working on redisigning our teams driver station, any thought on what worked or didnt, pictures would help?

[Taylor]

Things to consider:
-Size. Make sure it's large enough for two people to comfortably stand next to each other, but small enough to be manageable and fit in the station (this past year it was a max of 44")
-Weight. When in queue, as well as the walk there and back, somebody's gotta hold this thing. Even if you plan to just put it on the robot cart, this year at some events one person from the drive team was asked to stand on the opposite side of the field from the robot and its cart.
-Carrying. Make it easy to carry.
-Robustness. Lesson learned this year: Don't trust four small pieces of hook-and-loop to secure your computer.
-Accessibility. You may need to plug/unplug/reconfigure quickly. Make everything accessible.

[carrillo694]

Here's a major component of our OI. The drivetrain was controlled with joysticks, and stingers/shooter/etc controlled with this. I personally like making our own box, because it allows us to make more ergonomic design configurations than joysticks allow.

The buttons on the right set the speed of our shooter. The big red button on the left runs our automatic shooting routine, the covered switch above that deploys our stingers, and the toggle lever in the middle controls our acquirer. There's also a thumbwheel switch on this box that allows us to select what autonomous routine we want to run.

If anything, this can get a little too bulky to carry, but I had so much fun working on its design that it didn't bother me as much as it bothers others, and as the driver I carried it around the most :D

http://i.imgur.com/kBvFNh.jpg

[MrForbes]

This is what the NERDS came up with this year. Has a handle to carry it, it's not too big, the gamepad comes out so the driver is connected by a cable and can move around, it has the battery charger built in, and it's only slightly difficult to connect the cables. And it rests on the robot and cart when not in use. The hook and loop connecting the computer to the plywood is large and strong.

[JB]

We redesigned ours this year with some smoked Lexan and 80/20. It has two game controllers and the laptop. Its lightweight and small making it easy to manage both on and off the field. Also were were able to brand it everywhere since we got our laser engraver to do vinyl this year.:) If you have any questions let me know pictures are attached.

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=7583eeff4a&view=att&th=13713671af2aaf02&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=14c2009bbc0819c6_0.1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9askXFdCZA9yVj8_HFOTv5&sadet=1336060659029&sads=7vzoIIRf4hfw2eVdKe0X7uMEyco
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=7583eeff4a&view=att&th=1371366dcbf0e181&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=d7582eaef0229880_0.1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9askXFdCZA9yVj8_HFOTv5&sadet=1336060682926&sads=eRuXtO5-oU9e1NTgDSrl4uFYQEo
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=7583eeff4a&view=att&th=1371368096ab5301&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=22ae630aa1bf2955_0.1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9askXFdCZA9yVj8_HFOTv5&sadet=1336060637923&sads=cwyyHZ-c7sOcko_h3Q8z555cIpg

[Akash Rastogi]

Here's a major component of our OI. The drivetrain was controlled with joysticks, and stingers/shooter/etc controlled with this. I personally like making our own box, because it allows us to make more ergonomic design configurations than joysticks allow.

The buttons on the right set the speed of our shooter. The big red button on the left runs our automatic shooting routine, the covered switch above that deploys our stingers, and the toggle lever in the middle controls our acquirer. There's also a thumbwheel switch on this box that allows us to select what autonomous routine we want to run.

If anything, this can get a little too bulky to carry, but I had so much fun working on its design that it didn't bother me as much as it bothers others, and as the driver I carried it around the most :D


What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?

[Andrew Remmers]

We redesigned ours this year with some smoked Lexan and 80/20. It has two game controllers and the laptop. Its lightweight and small making it easy to manage both on and off the field. Also were were able to brand it everywhere since we got our laser engraver to do vinyl this year.:) If you have any questions let me know pictures are attached.

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=7583eeff4a&view=att&th=13713671af2aaf02&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=14c2009bbc0819c6_0.1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9askXFdCZA9yVj8_HFOTv5&sadet=1336060659029&sads=7vzoIIRf4hfw2eVdKe0X7uMEyco
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=7583eeff4a&view=att&th=1371366dcbf0e181&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=d7582eaef0229880_0.1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9askXFdCZA9yVj8_HFOTv5&sadet=1336060682926&sads=eRuXtO5-oU9e1NTgDSrl4uFYQEo
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=7583eeff4a&view=att&th=1371368096ab5301&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=22ae630aa1bf2955_0.1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9askXFdCZA9yVj8_HFOTv5&sadet=1336060637923&sads=cwyyHZ-c7sOcko_h3Q8z555cIpg

links dont work :(

[gracie.]

Okay, so here's our driver's station. IMHO, it's really pretty and functions well. It got made several years ago by my sister and one of our alumna/mentors. It's basically a metal frame with 1/4 inch thick acrylic for face plates with cutouts for handles, 4 joysticks, and the classmate. One of the joysticks has been replaced with "peef" a box of buttons with LEDs that we made. The classmate velcros in. It's not too heavy, and we've attached straps for carrying! Unfortunately, with the new DS measurements this year, we had to have 2 inches sawed off one end at our first regional, but you could design around that since you know... >.>
http://www.team2399.org/?attachment_id=654
we CNCed it i believe, so perhaps you wouldn't want to use acrylic if you're putting on together by hand. or maybe not use acrylic in general, because it can shatter, but we haven't had any problems with that so far.

[AllenGregoryIV]

We made an extremely cheap driver station out of a piece of 1/2" plywood. We painted it and wrapped the edges in gaffers tape to prevent any splinters. Than we just dual locked (the stuff the use for Lego League tables) our joysticks, laptop and control panel to that. It's really light weight. The only thing missing is an easy handle, we will fix that soon.

If you want to know more about how we setup the control panel, we made a white paper a little while ago.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2666

[Alexa Stott]

im working on redisigning our teams driver station, any thought on what worked or didnt, pictures would help?

It really depends on what your robot "requires" to operate it each year. Some teams use two joysticks while others use one for the drive base. Then it depends if you need a button box and/or joystick for your operator.

Then there are teams who just use xbox controllers and need very little of an "actual" controls board.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you secure everything you put on there. I've seen teams not even bother to screw the joysticks into their board so they just slide off as they're carrying them. It makes me cringe every time. That's a great way to break a joystick.

[vhcook]

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you secure everything you put on there.

Seconded. You never know if we might get another game wherein robots frequently hit the far field wall at max speed during autonomous and knock unsecured controllers off the counter ::ouch::. (Overdrive reference)

[jblay]

What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?

I believe it was the former but I'm not involved in the electrical stuff but our main guy for electronics is on CD so I'll be sure he responds.

I personally do not like the custom boards because it isn't worth the added complication, we have had problems in the past with these breaking and then having issues we think are robot issues that aren't. Also if you just have a gamepad or joystick your driver can start getting used to it from day 1. In the last 4 years we have made our own boards and 2 of those years we ended up essentially not using the boards. 1 year because the board broke every other match and the other year because the "ergonomically correct" board was way less natural than a joystick and a bunch of driver practice was wasted as a result.

[badger3.14]

since our drivers station only required two joysticks (one for each driver). we put one on each side of the laptop. the joysticks and the laptop were on one 42'' by 12'' (roughly) sheet of carbon fiber which made it light and easy to carry.

[Alexa Stott]

Seconded. You never know if we might get another game wherein robots frequently hit the far field wall at max speed during autonomous and knock unsecured controllers off the counter ::ouch::. (Overdrive reference)

That's the reason for velcro.

Also, in 07 (teams drove into the walls to knock down tubes) or 08, I think FIRST actually made it clear that you could step over the line in auto if your control board got knocked off by a robot ramming into the wall.

[Gray Adams]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aPP81lEpPVo/T6D-5jQmSvI/AAAAAAAACPA/EPaKXCE1Z38/s1108/IMG_20120426_161803.jpg

We came up with a new driver station between competitions, to remedy trying to not drop everything while it's falling out of my arms. We designed this out of 1/16" 5052 aluminum, anodized black. It consists of 2 parts, one is the part that you see holds everything and bends down in front with "gunnrobotics" laser cut out. The other piece slides in, turning the long, essentially U shaped piece into a tube, which really helps with stiffness. I was worried about it bending or breaking until we riveted that piece in. We made it so tall (4" or so) because that joystick on the left actually sticks down about 3.75" and we needed to support it somehow.

I can post the CAD and/or a few more pictures if anyone wants them.

[CalTran]

We've gotten plenty of compliments about ours before. I'll see if I can dig up a picture of our station and post it tomorrow (All our media files are on the school network) but I'll try and describe ours:

Basically, we started with a snowboard. We then painted it black. Slapped on some velcro that fits a laptop size, and left enough space on both sides for at least 2 joysticks each. (IE max configuration of our board could theoretically be 2 joysticks - laptop - 2 joysticks. ) Usually how it ends up being configured would be 2 joysticks, a laptop, then our operator box.

I'd say that if there's one thing we could add to it, it would be a carrying handle and or wheels. Make it kinda longboard style...

[gyroscopeRaptor]

I'll get pics tomorrow of 3633's, but we had a lexan surplus and a new press so we took a 36x14x1/4 in piece of smoked lexan, bent it in front and back, placed woodblocks with marine velcro to hold the joysticks in place (and it's rock solid), then put two thin pieces of lexan to hold the laptop down with one piece holding it by the handle. It's clean, light, and very simple. We did have trouble reaching the ethernet and usb ports because we did not give the laptop enough room on the side, but we will get port savers made in the offseason to make them work better.

A requirement not listed above is to make it versatile and reusable in future years with many possible control schemes.

[Alexa Stott]

I also recommend that all teams use the pigtail! It's easier to get a new pigtail than it is to fix/replace a broken ethernet port on your DS laptop. :)

[carrillo694]

What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?

It's a FIRSTtouch, provided in the KOP and accessible through the WPIlibj API.

[CalTran]

I also recommend that all teams use the pigtail! It's easier to get a new pigtail than it is to fix/replace a broken ethernet port on your DS laptop. :)

SECONDED

[z_beeblebrox]

At our first regional, we took a piece of Lexan and velcroed our laptop and joysticks to it. By our second regional we had switched to two logitech gamepads, which both our programming team (me) and our drive team liked much more. We still kept the Lexan as it was a handy place to put then when not in use. Another thing we learned is not to use the throttle on the KOP joysticks when any precision is needed. It has some "wiggle" and is too small to position accurately.

[Dr. Shocker]

Our team has, for the past 2 years, used a small brief-case-esque box, with play station controllers. By using PS controllers our drivers are able to have more freedom in where they decided to stand, and over all it's more compact.

[cgmv123]

This wasn't ours, and I don't know who's it is, but it sure does look cool.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6980547350_a6974926d2_z.jpg

[jblay]

This wasn't ours, and I don't know who's it is, but it sure does look cool.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6980547350_a6974926d2_z.jpg

It looks like that is more suitable for transmitting telegraphs than controlling a robot.

[carrillo694]

This wasn't ours, and I don't know who's it is, but it sure does look cool.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6980547350_a6974926d2_z.jpg

Love the steampunk. I would love to know how the operators feel about using those knife switches in retrospect...

[CalTran]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6980547350_a6974926d2_z.jpg

Hellllllloooooooooo Steampunk...

[Ernst]

What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?

I'm not sure about them, but for our driver station (http://imgur.com/RAQF6) we used a Cypress PSoC 3 (http://www.cypress.com/?rID=38235) with a carrier and enclosure (http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0564.htm) from eStop/AndyMark.

Regarding the driver station itself, it has a frame of aluminum l-channel, bolted together, with a piece of 1/4 inch plexiglass on top and bottom. It has two joysticks, a variety of buttons, potentiometers, and switches.

Looking inside of it, from left to right, you can first see two red batteries for the blue cold cathode ray lights. The small blue boxes are for the lights as well. The black area beneath the joysticks is for an Enercell backup battery for the laptop. The little green LED is for the Cypress chip, and the far black box is full of autonomous mode switches. The panel with the buttons is on a hinge for easy access to the wiring.

Overall, it was fun to build and wire, and, I think, looks pretty good.

TL;DR: Aluminum and plexiglass and custom button layouts. Also, lights.

[Gray Adams]

Here's the CAD to our driver station, since someone asked. If you need me to explain why anything is the way it is, feel free to ask.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2062715/DriverStation.zip

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http://gyazo.com/c4153c8d5f7d4cff7a3d97e133797cb0.png

[slijin]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6980547350_a6974926d2_z.jpgI love the PID constants at the bottom.

We painted it and wrapped the edges in gaffers tape to prevent any splinters.Ours was made with 1/2" aluminum honeycomb, and had 1/2" aluminum C-channel press-fit onto the sides for that purpose.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you secure everything you put on there. I've seen teams not even bother to screw the joysticks into their board so they just slide off as they're carrying them. It makes me cringe every time. That's a great way to break a joystick.Our personal preference is to slap down one long strip of Velcro down the length of the OI, then add additional, short strips where needed.

What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?As previously mentioned, it's the Cypress FIRSTtouch from the KoP. We designed and soldered a 6"x8" PCB that acted as a shield for the PSoC, to allow for easy replacement. We considered the CCI as an alternative, but decided that the lack of outputs on the CCI was too much of a disadvantage to use that instead. (Every arcade pushbutton corresponds to a given shooter setpoint, and lights up when that button is pushed to indicate the active setpoint.)

If need be, I can supply the circuit diagram for that box and/or pictures of the guts of that box.

As Joe mentioned, there have been serious issues with robustness with the PSoC in the past (the 2010 PSoC issues still give me nightmares), and there are cons against a custom OI. It becomes a troubleshooting point (using the DS I/O tab is the easiest way to check this), as well as that development and fabrication time takes away from practice time. On the flip side, it allows for continuity - 4 years later, 2, or even the next year, who's going to remember what the trigger on the operator stick did?

That being said, there are a lot of considerations that go into developing a custom OI box like ours. We were fortunate enough to get the plate done on a CNC router at our sponsor Cox and Co, but it would have taken infinitely longer (due to metric drill holes and non-circular holes, as well as precise dimensioning) to make the plate by hand in our lab.

Physically, you need to design it for serviceability, which is no simple task. Every connection between the PSoC interface circuit board and any button/switch on the OI (with some exceptions) consisted of a screw terminal connection on the shield end, and a quick disconnect on the button end, so there would never be a need to resolder if a button broke mid-competition. In the case of our auton selector switch (the black rotary switch at the center left), we soldered header pins to the shield and crimped a 1x5 .1" female header onto wires coming off solder joints, and used 1x3 .1" female headers (much like PWMs) on the potentiometers at the top. Wires were given extensive length so that the lid could be flipped over the back and allow one to inspect the shield and access it easily. We even kept an allen key in the box if we ever had to replace the switch that had a custom-made handle secured by set screws.

But even more important than serviceability is that it needs to be robust. If stuff keeps breaking when the OI gets jostled around, that's not a good OI - the point of an OI is to ease operation, not make you stop and troubleshoot it. We made liberal use of screw-down wire clamps so that wires didn't shift around inside the OI (which also helped minimize the rat's nest that the guts of such items usually become), and made sure to stress-relief everything that could come out - especially the USB cord going from the OI box to the DS.

[JCharlton]

That was ours :) Here's another shot with the driver's controls (and all the masking tape removed).

[ablatner]

Here's the CAD to our driver station, since someone asked. If you need me to explain why anything is the way it is, feel free to ask.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2062715/DriverStation.zip

http://gyazo.com/47b2f0beb1462f1bbd5137ad20b54a55.png
http://gyazo.com/d4c4867a8e07845553abd527c1fa1dd1.png
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http://gyazo.com/c4153c8d5f7d4cff7a3d97e133797cb0.png

We love this driver station. How'd you do the sheet metal fabrication and bending?

[Gray Adams]

We love this driver station. How'd you do the sheet metal fabrication and bending?

We had our sponsor Vander-Bend Manufacturing do it for us on their laser cutter and press brakes. They've done a few things for us this season, and we're hoping to involve them even more next year. I can give you the contact info of the person we've been communicating with if you'd like (feel free to mention my name and GRT). I believe 846 has them as a sponsor too, so I'm sure they'd be happy to help you guys out with anything.

[Chickenonastick]

We had our sponsor Vander-Bend Manufacturing do it for us on their laser cutter and press brakes. They've done a few things for us this season, and we're hoping to involve them even more next year. I can give you the contact info of the person we've been communicating with if you'd like (feel free to mention my name and GRT). I believe 846 has them as a sponsor too, so I'm sure they'd be happy to help you guys out with anything.

Are there handles on that thing? Love the design and the fact that it has its own "belly pan".

[Gray Adams]

Are there handles on that thing? Love the design and the fact that it has its own "belly pan".

Those slots in the middle, on either side of the computer can be used as handles, but I generally just held on to either side as if it were a big piece of plywood. It wasn't the best or most comfortable driver station to carry, but I'm sure with a couple improvements it could be quite a bit better. Slightly wider slots and a rubber gasket of sorts to protect knuckles would likely help.

[arizonafoxx]

What ever you do don't make the box more than 12". Many have mentioned the 44" constraint but we had an issue with an inspector at buckeye. He measured our drivers station and found that it was 1/8" over 12" and told use he would not pass our robot till this was corrected. His issue was that our drivers station was supposed to fit on the 12" shelf and not hang over. We tried to explain to him that once you plug in the comms cable and charge cable that these cables would make the drivers station hang over the shelf anyway. At that point he said I am just telling you what the rule in the manual states. Luckily for us the box was made out of wood so we were able to cut down one side of the box and pass inspection but the box was no longer the pretty box that was built during build season. This was the first time in my history of FRC that I had the box measured as part of the inspection of the robot. I also never saw that on the check list but maybe I missed it. We had the inspector sign the piece of wood so we could hang it on our wall of shame as a lesson learned. It also makes for a great story to tell freshmen about accurate measuring and leaving a tolerance for error.

[Alan Anderson]

This was the first time in my history of FRC that I had the box measured as part of the inspection of the robot. I also never saw that on the check list but maybe I missed it.

The 44” x 12” limit is the second item under the Operator Console section of the 2012 inspection checklist. I don't remember the equivalent of <R82> in previous years, except for a reminder to make sure everything will fit on the provided shelf.

I will admit to not strictly enforcing that rule this year. I can't see how it would be a competitive advantage to extend even a couple of inches past the front of the shelf. If the console wasn't obviously deeper than the length of my clipboard, I usually didn't bother taking the time to measure it (though I did verify the width on a couple of unusually wide ones).

[Erik Huang]

Actually it wasn't bad. The ones on the far right are supposed to be emergency buttons. One is to cut the power if the shooter starts acting up, and the other is a manual override for the automatic sliders (the pawn-like pieces).

[ablatner]

We had our sponsor Vander-Bend Manufacturing do it for us on their laser cutter and press brakes. They've done a few things for us this season, and we're hoping to involve them even more next year. I can give you the contact info of the person we've been communicating with if you'd like (feel free to mention my name and GRT). I believe 846 has them as a sponsor too, so I'm sure they'd be happy to help you guys out with anything.

Thanks! That'd be great if I could get their info. We've been looking for some new sponsors to give us a little more manufacturing resources.

[PayneTrain]

4 keys to a driver station are usability, security, portability, and handling. For virtually every year in existence, 422 has operated under a tank drive, so we have 2 KOP joysticks bolted into 1/16" polycarbonate on a 12 by 21 inch rectangle. Attached by a hinge, we have the laptop and the OI/Joystick 3 (this year we had joystick 3) on the right half. When the driver station is folded in half, it can be held by handles or hoisted under one's arm rather nicely. It is also far lighter than our previous diamond plate metal and wooden stations. It can be rested on top of our robot for tethering, and can be stored with an incredibly small footprint.

[ABA]

i saw some pictures online, i would love to check out some CAD designs if you could put those up?

[Gray Adams]

Here's the CAD to our driver station, since someone asked. If you need me to explain why anything is the way it is, feel free to ask.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2062715/DriverStation.zip

http://gyazo.com/47b2f0beb1462f1bbd5137ad20b54a55.pngLinks are DEAD, see imgur album in new post.
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Sorry to bring this back up, but someone messaged me saying the links are dead and I can't edit the post, so here they are again.

http://imgur.com/a/xfkDh