Has anyone used a Guitar Hero controller?

[JGecko146]

Hi everyone,

I’m doing a little unofficial research for a friend at Microsoft.

How many of you have used a Guitar Hero controller with your robot?
-In practice or Competition?

Please describe what parts of the robot/ functions you controlled with the Guitar Hero controller.

Why did you choose this for your controller?

What were the advantages?

What were the disadvantages?

What was your overall impression?

Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!

~JGecko146

[ttldomination]

For your view pleasure:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27814

We used it during competition, and therefore also practice.

The controller primarily controlled the elevator for that game. The first three buttons (green, red, and yellow) were three presets for the three different heights. The last two buttons were manual controls for up and down. The strum operated the intake/output of our rollers.

Well, it was insanely cool, the game was named "Rack n' Roll", and the fact that we got it to work was nice.

It presented no clear advantages over having a simple array of buttons, but it was a nice feature.

It was subject to overheating, but I suppose that's a flaw in the design, not the strategy.

The overall impression was insanely cool. Everyone was mesmerized by its use and it even got us an award.

- Sunny G.

[roboticsgoof95]

For your view pleasure:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27814

We used it during competition, and therefore also practice.

The controller primarily controlled the elevator for that game. The first three buttons (green, red, and yellow) were three presets for the three different heights. The last two buttons were manual controls for up and down. The strum operated the intake/output of our rollers.

Well, it was insanely cool, the game was named "Rack n' Roll", and the fact that we got it to work was nice.

It presented no clear advantages over having a simple array of buttons, but it was a nice feature.

It was subject to overheating, but I suppose that's a flaw in the design, not the strategy.

The overall impression was insanely cool. Everyone was mesmerized by its use and it even got us an award.

- Sunny G.

that seems really cool!!

[CalTran]

^Like the picture. I don't personally know a team who's done this, but I know Team Titanium have done the exact opposite of it. http://www.teamtitanium.org/robots.html

In terms of control advantages, I can't really think of much reason besides the aesthetic value. Most of the buttons on a Guitar Hero controller match with that on a regular XBox 360 controller.

[ouellet348]

Team 348 did in 2010 Breakaway

We used the various buttons to set our capture roller direction and speed, to fire or kicker, to deploy a ramp, and to power our compressor off when not needed.

We ended up using it after our secondary control box died the week we had to practice, so we grabbed it from a house on the way to the shop and it worked out perfectly.

It was simply and easy to use, and left great impressions on others who saw it, overall there was very little wrong with it at all.

[quinxorin]

Not quite the same thing, but at least one team (67 I think) has built a robot that plays guitar hero with a guitar hero controller.

[EricH]

Not quite the same thing, but at least one team (67 I think) has built a robot that plays guitar hero with a guitar hero controller.
Already mentioned; it's 1986's Titan robot.