[feverittm]

We used a 'waldo' (and yes we called it the Waldo) in 2011 to control the main 2-jointed arm we used to grab tubes. We liked the way it offered direct control. We were considering using one for a manual control box this year to control the height of our elevator.

However, it can cause some extra work to use with automated systems (like a button to move to a pre-programmed location as we might have used this year to move an elevator to a precise tote/bin height). The issue is when you transition from waldo desired position to/from automated position. You might have to used motorized joints in your waldo (like a motorized slide poteniometer) to track position between automatic and manual operations.

A waldo is a cool idea, however it is not perfect for every game. I can see that for games that use moving actions (like arms/elevators) it would be useful, while for others (like the shooters form last year) it might not be as useful.

(BTW: We still have our waldo in it's nice storage box in our lab, while the robot it controlled has long since been recycled)