Can you make your own joystick?

[chantilly_team]

Hey Guy,
We were wondering if we can make our own custom joystick without using the ones provided. We were making it out of potentiometers. So can you convert potentiometers into the joystick ports?

Thanking you in anticipation.

team 612.

[steven114]

Of course.

[MOEmaniac]

Yes you can. I on the other hand don't know how but I do know that team 25 last year had a joystick that was a replica of their arm and it used pots.

[Mike Schroeder]

Hey Guy,
We were wondering if we can make our own custom joystick without using the ones provided. We were making it out of potentiometers. So can you convert potentiometers into the joystick ports?

Thanking you in anticipation.

team 612. aslong as it does not require an outside powersource, then yes it is legal

<R69> All equipment connected to the Joystick Ports of the Operator Interface must be powered solely through the power available through the port. External power sources of any type are not permitted on any equipment connected to the Joystick Ports. Portable computing devices may not be connected to Joystick input ports on the Operator Interface.
you will also need to know the pinouts for the joystick ports, read the OI manual here: http://www.ifirobotics.com/docs/oi-ref-guide-1-25-05.pdf , the pinouts are located on page 7,8,9,10

on page 25 of the Guidelines Tips and Good Practices of section 5 of the manual (found here: http://www2.usfirst.org/2005comp/Manuals/Guidelines_C.pdf ) you will see the pinouts for Potentiometers


hope that helps

[Ryan Albright]

My old team (710) made a custom joystick last year. It was a downsize of our arm. It contained two potentiometers. As long as you stay in the rules of what Big mike posted you will be good.

Good luck

[chantilly_team]

My old team (710) made a custom joystick last year. It was a downsize of our arm. It contained two potentiometers. As long as you stay in the rules of what Big mike posted you will be good.

Good luck


Thats exactly what we want to do, by using two or three potentiometers in our replica of our arm. But we dont how exactly to convert the potentiometer into joysticks. Or how to connect them into the joystick ports on the Operator Interface. We would really appreciate if you tell us how to do that.
Thanks,

Team 612.

[Billfred]

To connect pots (100 kOhm) to your OI, you'll need a DB15 gameport connector. You can cannibalize a bad joystick for one, get them from whereever you got the connector for your competition port dongle (they're the same connector) or find a rather obscure electronics store that still sells them. (I found one just by asking around at the big electronics stores, and someone mentioned it. Cable and Connections on Leaphart Road in (West?) Columbia SC, if you're interested.) Make sure you also get a backshell, to keep from accidentally grounding pins you didn't want grounded.

From there, follow the wiring diagram in the OI manual on www.innovationfirst.com and check it before you plug things up.

Hope this helps!

[steven114]

Solder cups on the back are good too. We pick ours up from the local electronics junk superstore, Halted Specialties Company (or something like that : http://www.halted.com) :p