[tsaksa]

We did something like this as a side project this summer to build a wired controller for our robot for moving it around and testing without setting up a real drivers station. You can buy old game controllers at Goodwill or other locations for about $2. PS2 controllers are dirt cheap now. Have the students cut the connections to the existing PC board, and wire directly to the potentiometer. We used a standard 9 pin D connector which provided 5 volt power and ground into the controller to connect across the potentiometers. That left left enough extra connections to return the 4 analog values from the center tap on the potentiometers, and three additional connections that could be used to wire some buttons.

The students were very impressed with the idea of opening up an old controller and re-purposing it for a new function. The PS2 controller now just acts as a set of potentiometers and switches connected to the 9 pin connector. A little hot glue for strain relief, and reassembling the case, and the thing looks reasonably professional. The Arduino and a small battery to power it goes into another box that can be placed on the robot and also has four connectors for the PWM outputs. In use you can connect a standard serial cable between the controller and the arduino box since that has a 9 pin D connector as well. Just make sure you serial cable is straight through and not null modem.

I can post the code separately.