So, How do you shift?
 

Alright folks, I have a question for y'all. How do you shift gears at the operator station?

Do you use the buttons on the joystick? Do you use a switch on the control board? Do you use a switch that was custom mounted on the joystick? Or do you use something totally different?

Any and all comments are appreciated.

/dan

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Right trigger controls shifting. Left trigger switches between single and dual joystick control. Left top button rotates though the joystick translation profiles.

Right top button controls the ejection seat. :rolleyes:

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Right Trigger to shift.
Originally it was left trigger, but right was better for me and left the left trigger for something else. :rolleyes:

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

i get in my seat, get comfy, buckle up for saftey ( i recommend it to everyone) put the key in the ignition, and as with every thing i have ever driven, i use the automatic transmission stick that is on my steering column, and shift into forward or reverse as needed, there is even an option for 2nd or 1st gear, but i really never use those

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

r thumb trigger

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Team 294 will be using either a 2 or 4 speed transmission this year that will be controlled by encoders.

We are planning on using the triggers as manual overrides.

If we have the 4 speed, we will automatically switch between 2 and 3 as the standard speeds and use the triggers to force it into high and low gear. But, this all depends on the game; We may cancel our plans for shifters if we don't need them.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

We use an on/off switch on the handle of the joystick. We cut a square hole in the grip portion (where your palm would normally go) so our driver never has to remove his hand from the prefered position he holds it at (which is towards the base of the joystick, resting his palm on the base at times). The reason we (I) prefer the on/off switch is that you can always look down and know what gear you are in. We had thought about using the trigger or a momentary button, but we could never be sure what gear we were in. Granted, you should know... unfortunately, however, in the heat of competition you never really can be sure of anything.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

ofcorse you could have some leds to show what gear your in......heck you could make a HUD (heads up display for them......put them on the brom of a hat so you could see the or something......:D

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

joystick trigger.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

It could tell you that you have powered the solenoid to shift, but it doesn't tell you if it actually shifted or not. We installed reed sensors for this in case to see if we actually completed the shift or not. We ordered the magnetic piston, and installed two on each cylinder to know when it completed the shift. When we lowered the psi to the shifters, it shifted flawlessly, so we didn't need the sensors.

Also, I'm not sure about you, but I'm not a hat person. :p

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

The Jeep Bot used the forward/reverse lever of the power wheels car to shift to first or second :yikes: .

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

we have an automatic or manual 4 speed. I believe we took the idea from team 33 killer bees. We use encoders to tell our pistons when to fire. this way we can determine the best shift points. Just in case the encoders go out we can switch to manual and we use 1 of the top buttons on the right to go up and one on the left to go down. We can also use either trigger to drop into 1st gear for pushing(or staying stationary better) or by pushing both triggers it goes into 1st gear and shuts off the compressor to give a little added power.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

On our interface last year we had three arcade style buttons labeled "Light Speed", "Ridiculous Speed", and "Ludicrous Speed". After our transmissions fried we didn't use them too much anymore.


EDIT: pic of our OI at nationals:

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Mechanical parts can fry?

We've always just used the triggers. When we had the 4 speed (waste of time), we had the indicator LEDs light up on the OI to show what gear we were in.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

On Team 340, we use the black joysticks. On these, there are two buttons per joystick. They are located on the top, and the other one is a trigger. We only use one joystick for the shifting, generally the right one.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

We've been using a foot pedal since 2002. This was the preference of the driver. He just wired up a guitar pedal switch and went from there. It works well, but makes the OI cumbersome.


Andy B.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Our drivers prefer to use 2-sticks, so a button on the left joystick was low gear, another on the right was high gear. We also had a redundent toggle switch on the OI as a backup, but the joystick buttons were what got used.

The driver experimented with a trigger toggle early on, but wanted to be positive of the gear rather than have to remember. The OI had an indicator, but the OI LEDS never get looked at by the driver who never takes his or her eyes off the field. If he or she is unsure they just press the appropriate button again for the gear they want to be in.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

We use the triggers.

I can't remember if both shift or if it's just the right one, cause that's the only one I use.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

For the past two years we've used a shift lever attached to a rotary switch with resistors in series. We wire that to an empty aux or wheel pin on an OI joystick port. This gives us an "analog-digital" input. We read that in the FRC and interpret it as a gear request, to send a pwm value to our shifting servos. The shifting itself is open loop. Testing it is a part of our pre-match check-out in the pit.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

So, how many speeds to you have?

If you have 4, does one servo switch between the 4 base on how far it moves?

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

We've been running 3-Speeds with the "Nothing But Dewalts" gear boxes, since 2005. We center the servo for 2nd gear (so give it 127), and have the full range of the servo in either direction(255 or 0) to give us 1st or 3rd. We typically get about 4, 8 and 12fps max in the 3 gears. Our drivers spend most matches in 1st and 2nd.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

We don't my team hasn't really agreed on the whole multi-speed gearbox

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

We use the buttons on the joystick. Left switches the left and right switches the right. Although it doesn't always work and sometimes gets stuck in a gear... like it did at Monty Madness and Brunswick Eruption.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Oooh... that should've been obvious to me. Why do you recheck the servos before each match? do they tend to drift or something like that?

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

It's the lever attached from servo to shift collar that tends to get loose. We use these small threaded shafts with what I'd just call a turnbuckle (probably not the right word) on them. You can get them from a hobby store that carries R/C airplanes. As they loosen,we tend to not quite make 3rd - accompained by a lovely grinding noise - HA! Also, since competition mode sends out a pwm of 127, we check to see that the 'bot is in 2nd prior to each match. It avoids some ratcheting when autonomous starts. Setting the appropriate gear in auto mode is just one of the things we need to program for. The Dewalts do quite nicely with shift-on-the-fly, so that's not a huge deal.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Another cool way to shift is the throttle wheel at the bottom of the stick. This allows the driver to keep his hands low.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

This is how Team 1114 shifts. We employ single stick drive, and our drivers tend to hold the base of the joystick in their left hand, using their thumb to shift with the throttle wheel.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

thats how 177 shifts! its easy cause then the driver just has to use the thumb to rotate the wheel, and it gives a better control of the joystick.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Right Trigger- Up Shift/High Gear
Left Trigger - Down Shift/Low Gear

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

Top L & R Button on Xbox 360 Controler

Transmissions are Dewalt 3 Speed with a servo to shift.

Re: So, How do you shift?
 

We have started using a steering wheel and throttle set up. There happens to be two buttons exactly where the drivers tend to hold the steering wheel, so its ideal for the two speed tranny we have. One button for high speed, the other for low speed.