Robot Controller

[NotaNerd]

Does anyone have either pictures, designs or explanations of their controller from past years? Team 1418 has come up with an ingenious idea and we wanted to see other team's ideas.

[sanddrag]

I'm not quite sure what you are asking for. The robot controller is made by Innovation FIRST and an identical unit is provided in each kit of parts.

[NoodleKnight]

Maybe you mean the operator control deck, with the whole joystick, OI assembly? If so for the past few years we've just taped our joysticks, OI, and anything else to a piece of wood. Not until 2004 did we actually make something nice to house the operator stuff, nice as it it's just a metal box with a plastic window to see the top of the OI and holes so that we can plug stuff into the OI. I'd like to add that covering the OI makes it annoying to reset the robot/OI or re-seat the joystick plugs or what not.

[Billfred]

Perhaps you're referring to the Operator Interface?

If so, I have to say that pictures seem scarce. Most folks seem to have a board with one to four joysticks and sometimes a box of switches. (Others (www.d5robotics.com) simply suction cup down the joysticks to the shelf and go.)

I have to say that 180's box, while odd-looking, did seem to have the most function built into it. (Then again, when you're running omniwheels, you kinda have to have functions built into the OI.)

On the other hand, don't overbuild. You don't want your driver to wonder in the middle of the match whether holding down the shift switch while toggling the grabber will launch your hook.

[phrontist]

My teammate, the not so aptly named but none the less illustrious "Notanerd," is indeed refferring to the OI. Isn't there an award for OI design? "Control Systems Award" or something...

[NotaNerd]

My deepest apologies for referring to the operator control deck as the "controller." But at such an early stage in the build season, my vocabulary has not quite been fine tuned. The definition of a "controller" works since it does control something, but its not quite the same. Sorry for any confusion.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

The award for "Leadership In Control" traditionally goes to a team who uses a new and great method to control or drive their robot. This doesn't necessarily mean going above the standard 2 joystick drive and making some crazy contraption, but it could also be awarded to a team who uses a unique program method to take those inputs and control their robot.

The team i remember winning this off the top of my head is the 04 NJ regional winner, team 25.

Heres a link to their winning design.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=26067

Heres the award criteria from last year.
http://www2.usfirst.org/2004comp/8-TheAwards-RevA-incorporated.pdf