177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

We had an awesome 20th build season. We cannot wait to compete this week at Granite State and Hartford Districts.

https://vimeo.com/87430089

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

That intake is one of the fastest I have seen yet, great job guys!

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Great bot guys! See you at GSD!

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Looks excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing it up close and competing with/against you guys at GSD! :-)

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Looking good! Can't wait to see you play up at Granite state next week, also I loved the teaser at the end of the video, correct me if I'm wrong but are those hard stops to prevent you from being moved while you shoot?

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Those are some really old school controllers you are using. We have one similar in our robotics case at school from team 1055 in 2003.

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

They're called flight sticks, and they are amazing. Our ex-254 driver persuaded us to start using them last year over our old Logitech Attack 3s, and we've never gone back. They might look old, but they're really one of the best driving joysticks out there.

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Looks like you've got good support for your intake. I'll see you field-side in Hartford!

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

It's a secret ;)

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Really? I always just assumed older teams used them because retro things are awesome.
What advantages do they have over a normal joystick, and are they still available for purchase somewhere?

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

True. As I don't think they're all that uncommon, they should be available through Amazon (although I don't know exactly where we got ours).

The advantages are they seem to present a more precision and sensitive feel to the drivers. This is completely subjective, but they seem to be much easier to push off of center, and position finely around the center of their travel (where most precision maneuvering is done).

They also feel like they have a slight but distinct break between their x and y axis of travel, that is, they have a slight tendency to want to stay perfectly along the x or y axis. As we drive with split arcade (faux "Chessy Drive") the semi discreet x and y axis feel of the joysticks might help the driver somehow more accurately channel his hand motions into the data fed to the robot: the x axis value for the right joystick and the y axis value for the left. But that's just me guessing.

Our ex-254 (now alum) driver also modified the positions of some of their buttons on the FSPs so he could position his hands where they would give him more precise control of the joysticks. He could have also modified other parts of the joysticks to create a different feel while he was at it (but I don't believe he did). Again, I'll credit him and 254 for putting us onto these sticks.

Of course, this stuff about the Flight Stick Pros being better could be just me talking out of my behind. They just happen to feel like a better driving joystick to me personally, and our drivers seem to like them too. Your mileage may vary.

Oh, yeah, and it's possible I misjudged the identity of the joysticks from the video. They look a lot like the ones we use, but they could something similar looking that 177 happens to use.

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

They are the USB version of the CH Flightsticks.
We had to switch over from the original flightsticks we used to get in the kit a few years ago.

Our drivers have always preferred them for the reasons listed above.

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Would it be possible for me to get an item number or vendor?
I'd like to look into getting one.

Sorry to derail the thread for a bit.

Awesome robot guys, I love the way you intake up the front rollers. That's a brilliant way of giving yourself variable shooting power.
I'm always really impressed with what your team comes up with.

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Here is the link for Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/CH-Products-Fl...lightstick+pro

We actually took the handles from the older controllers and swapped them onto these bases because our drivers prefer the slim lightweight handles.

We had a ton of the pre-usb joysticks because we are in year 20 of our team's existence and they gave us 2 or 4 of those in the kit every year for a long time.

Re: 177 Bobcat Robotics Reveal
 

Love the robot. We'll see you at GSD this weekend!

As a former flight-stick driver I like those style joysticks for the reasons listed above. The divorced x and y axes makes all the difference in the world.

We used this joystick for a few years: http://www.amazon.com/CH-Products-20...6+flight+stick

Our current drivers (and myself) had really good luck testing game-pad controls with custom drive transforms, so we've gone with an xBox game pad for the chassis control this year.