Just Wish to Confirm
 

First off, I know this question is being asked far too late in the build time then it should be, but it was not noticed by any of our team members until recently.

In the FIRST KOP, the two joysticks that were provided are both Right Handed joysticks. What we would like to confirm, is that we should indeed have 2 Right Handed joy sticks. We have looked and found no documentation anywhere indicating that this is a mistake, in fact the pictures in the checklist show 2 Right Handed joysticks, and there is only one part number for the joysticks.

Besides confirming that this is not a mistake, and that all the teams were given 2 Right Handers, we are wondering if anyone knows the reason FIRST would hand out right handed joysticks. Could it be an oversight that teams were given only right handed joysticks, when, to the best of our knowledge, using two joysticks for driving is a widely used control system?

Using two right handed joysticks is certainly a small inconvenience, but it is still beyond us why we would get two right handed joysticks, as opposed to a right and a left, or even two ambidextrous joysticks.

If anyone has any information about why we are sent two right handed sticks, or what we can do/could have done to get joysticks that make robot control even this little bit easier, we would greatly appreciate it. Also if you have a link to where information on this might be, we would appreciate it very much.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

As far as I know, that's the way it's been for a while now. So you are correct to have two righties.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

tradionally its a way to determine which students on your team really want to be drivers

being surgically altered to have two right hands is a big commitment, but if you wanna drive, and drive well ..... !

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

if your team is going with a two joystick setup for driving (tank steering) then you reall dont need to put ur complete hand on the joystick just parts. unless you change the sensitivity in them to not account for small motions.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

With joysticks this is one case involving the KOP where two rights don't make it wrong....

:rolleyes:

WC

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

Team449, welcome to Chief Delphi Forums! :)

If your team has machining capabilities (i.e. a lathe), you might want to consider some of the ideas that Team 228 has used in the past for customizing the handles of the KOP Joysticks:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...1&postcount=13

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...92&postcount=5


I really need to move the KOP Joystick Customization White Paper higher up on my to do list. :cool:

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

well my opinion is that it is better to have 1 joystick over 2 [tank style] because it is easer to have 1 and it doesn't take as long to program. But I'm not a programmer so i probably have no idea what I'm saying

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

Indeed, the last sentence is true. Support for either mode comes in the default code--so technically, neither is harder to program.

Two-joystick drive, however, is somewhat easier to tweak in code (as we've found the Limit_Mix function was sometimes persnickety when we tried to slow down Ockham for parades).

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

I don't really like the idea of using two joysticks to controll the robot. while watching it from so far away and with five other robots on the field there is a great deal of luck involved in it. I am not trying to persuade everyone which number of joysticks is best, but I want you all to thing about which kind of drive system is best for you. Besides, there is already a debate thread here on which is the best type of drive. Personally I feel more comfortable using only one joystick to controll the $@#$@#$@#$@# thing. I tried the tank controlls before and got really pissed off.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

Lets keep to the topic but two joysticks is the way to go in most cases. I would strongly suggest customizing or buying different joysticks because they are very sensitive. It's your choice though.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

Ugh, KOP joysticks.
The old KOP joysticks were so much better.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

maybe a swap for the old style ones? which are legal right? the black ones?

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

Thank you all very much for your help! :D

We know how to program for 1 joystick if we have too but our drivers like the 2 joystick set up...something about more control. Although based on the number of times the robot has "taken control of itself and run itself into walls" I don't think control is quite their cup of tea ;)

We are going to have to explore our options, spend some time on the net see what looks good. Odds are we are going to just use two righties and ignore our driver if he whines. Those black ones were nice, we would take them from the control board we used in 2003, but we want to leave our 2003 robot completely intact in every way. That way we have one that operates well and looks nice, for when we have to show a robot off.

Thanks again you guys, we now have one less thing we find confusing.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

FIRST uses these particular joysticks because they either get them free (donated from the manufacturer) or at a really good discount. The reason the old CH Flightsticks aren't still in the kit is that they've been discontinued (or atleast the game port version has). It's my impression that left-handed/ambidextrous joysticks tend to be either a) more expensive or b) have too many buttons/functionality/etc. to be compatible with the OI. I might be wrong, but that's my guess on FIRST's reasoning.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

Yeha, the two righties are correct and that's how it was in last year's OI too.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

Been that way for a few years. I did like the old black models that came in the KOP "back in the day." Wow, I'm starting to feel old now.

You ought to just buy some new joysticks.. or modify the one's you've got.

Re: Just Wish to Confirm
 

It might be too late for this year, but you might want to try the solution our team came up with. 100% student designed and built too!

Playstation 2 controller adapter white paper