pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

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as cool as the easy button is, I think that the red switch above it is far more intimitading. It reminds me of the kind they use to fire nukes with in all of those action movies.

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I love it! Very nice integration.

JT
229

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

Last year we tried to make a box that had lots of predefined motions for capping or loading positions. We ended up abandoning the project halfway in becasue it started to become too complex. If only we had used the EASY button it would have worked out! Nice job :).

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

Greg,
I'm glad you put in the picture without the "master arm" switch. Now if only we had another 5 weeks to build a robot to match those nice controls.
Pete

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

I have to agree with Jack on how intimidating that red switch is. It should be a safety for the fire button.

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

I had the idea of the easy button at our initial meeting, at Fanuc Robotics. You guys beat us to the punch!


-Does it still play the sound when you hit the button?

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

Unfortunately, no.

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Playing the sound requires the batteries to be connected that it came with, and external power to controls circuits is illegal. :(

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

Yes, but it would be perfectly legal to connect something (like a discrete light or a soft tone) powered by its own battery to the giant button. As long as you don't connect it to the OI and it doesn't require AC power, you should be good to go, right? Don't waste the big button.

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

YOU STOLE OUR IDEA!!! I actually went out and bought one of those easy butttons, but I never installed it.(Actually I'm a lazy person :D :ahh: )

Good work though.

Josh
Team Driver/Designer

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

I'm not one to give the judges a hard time but I don't think I'd force a team to remove the batteries from their easy button just because its an external power source. It has zero effect on the ability to control the robot or any practical capabilities for that matter. Besides its just too awesome not to allow. :D

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

we had the same exact idea as well... it controls our auto targeting system... and it will speak!

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I love our Easy Button. This is a reminder to our button pusher that shooting should be easy.

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

How did you cut the slots for the sliding potentiometers?

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

Once the controls team had a layout for the position of all the controls we mounted the box in our NC mill, programed it and cut all the openings.

Re: pic: 177 Controls Teaser
 

Where did you get that big easy button?
Nice compact box, looks great!

Good luck this season.

-Chris

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Staples has ads with the "easy button" in them as part of their small-business services. You can actually go to Staples stores and buy the buttons. They say "That was easy" when you push them, but we had to disconnect the sound circuit to make it FIRST legal.

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Thanks for that, I have seen the staples ads, but I didn't know you could buy them anywhere!
Sweeeet.

-Chris

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Where did you get linear slide potentiometers that long?

Thanks in advance!

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ditto

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Looks really cool! What kind of sliders are you using?

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Mike Betts obtained them from an electronics store in Connecticut. I believe the store's name is something like "Cables and Connectors," but it isn't the web store of the same name.

I would recommend calling a specialized electronics store (read: not Radio Shack) and asking if they have linear potentiometers. There is a store near Boston called "You-Do-It Electronics," but your area probably has something similar.

Also, make sure you get the right resistance pots. We got 50K ones last year, whereas the OI wants 100K pots, so we lost 50% of our resolution, which was acceptable for the application, but required fixing in software.

-Greg

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Cables & Connectors is on the Berlin TPKE at the Wethersfield end right up the hill from the McDonald's on the same side, accross from the old drive in. I'm not sure what town it's in though because it's really close to the town line

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It's in Newington, CT (http://www.cablesandconnectors.com/) and I think the resistors were CALRAD 25-271.

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didnt you guys post this pic last year too?

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This is the picture from last year. Some one found the thread and brought it up again. It happens all the time.

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Why is there all that extra junk there? The easy button should take care of it all, one push and you get 256 points and two robots 12 inches off the ground.

Chris

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Thats this years easy button

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It was only a matter of time before those things started appearing on control boards...

Props to Staples for the new cultural icon.

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Wow that is a lot of switches :yikes: