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Unread 16-06-2003, 16:18
Chris Hibner's Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero
Chris Hibner Chris Hibner is offline
Eschewing Obfuscation Since 1990
AKA: Lars Kamen's Roadie
FRC #0051 (Wings of Fire)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: May 2001
Rookie Year: 1997
Location: Canton, MI
Posts: 1,488
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Calibration Button

Our team has been doing something similar to this for years (with a bit of a twist). We don't (and the code/hardware combination doesn't allow us) to re-zero the sticks during a match.

What we did is mount a special "stick calibration switch" onto the robot itself (that way we can't accidentally push it while in the driver station before the match). The switch is a spring loaded rocker so if you're not physically pushing it, it is in the non-cal mode.

Anyway, upon power up, if the switch is 'ON', the software goes into calibration mode and takes the zero points of the joysticks. If the switch is 'OFF', the cal mode is bypassed. We find that we rarely have to do a cal more than once per competition since the joysticks don't drift that much if you inhibit the motion of the trim wheels).