Driving practice without a robot
 

As some of you saw from the clip I released a while ago. Our driver needs a little work handling the controls.

As a rookie team, we don't have a second bot to practice with.

Any decent programs online we can use to get a better feel for the controls?

We have a tank style system.

Re: Driving practice without a robot
 

Katamari Damacy is one of the few video games that actually utilize tank drive unfortunately its not for computer its a console game. You can actually build a tank drive in garrys mod but I haven't found a way to switch the controls so that the wheels are controlled by anything except button inputs. Game wise twin stick shooters especially bullet hell type games will get your reaction time up and will get you used to a controller fast and are great from my experience. I'll look around some more though.

Re: Driving practice without a robot
 

I am not sure how much extra resources you have but if you can build a simple chassis with a similar drivetrain, that might help. If you can simulate the weight of the 120 pound robot on top of that that would help even more.

Sorry I don't have any useful online sources for you.

Re: Driving practice without a robot
 

If your robot is in good condition once it went in the bag, utilize the practice day at the regional! 2 years ago we just had to attach one mechanism at our second regional and get inspected before we were done. We were able to fit in 10 practice matches on the practice day!

Re: Driving practice without a robot
 

I agree. The quicker you get on the field during the practice day the better. Get your tools, and other pit materials organised, and tec in as quickly as possible.

Re: Driving practice without a robot
 

Contact your regional director and literally any veteran team around you. Someone is bound to have an old base laying around you can drive and practice with. Just make sure the weight matches your robot's. If you need help locating a team near you, let me know!

Re: Driving practice without a robot
 

Would be a good challenge for your programming team! We switched to a new controller this year so I threw up a JavaFX game in about a half hour using JInput to drive a square around a field along with some rudimentary pickup functions.