Drive Controller style: Attack3 or Videogame style?

[jbsmithtx]

At this point in our robot stage, our team is trying to decide which control method would be best.
1) Do we want to go with a standard video game controller like an xbox, or do we want to stick with the standard attack 3 joystick? We're going to do mecanum, and we were wondering what other mec teams use to control, as well as what alternate drive teams use. I feel like for teenagers, the video game controllers make more sense, but I like the ability to gauge movements with a larger joystick.
2) What item specifically do you use?
3) Is there any unique controller that your team may use, such as a touch screen or something?

Any input is appreciated

[F22Rapture]

Ultimately, the "best" control scheme is the one that your drivers are most comfortable with. A few things to keep in mind though:


The thumbsticks on Xbox controllers never center properly. This is easy to fix with a ~20% deadband, but that means that fine movements won't behave quite right
Point 1 can be remedied to some extent by using a different gamepad like the Logitech F310 which has better quality sensors in the thumbsticks
A full joystick is likely to give you the best accuracy and the ability to control all 3 axes of movement at once (you need a joystick with a z-axis though, the Attack3's do not)

[BigJ]

In the past we have used both joysticks and a gamepad for driving a mecanum system. in each instance one stick was all translation, while the other stick controlled only rotation.

We have experimented with a 3-axis joystick before which we did not like because controlling the stick accurately while also turning the wrist can be awkward.