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Unread 05-10-2003, 13:16
KenWittlief KenWittlief is offline
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the robot cannot tell if you are using one joystick or two

you can get exactly the same input commands to the robot using either setup of joysticks (0 to 255 on both axis)

so it really comes down to what the driver is use to.

I believe there have been polls taken on this and most teams use one joystick - it requires less coordination between your two hands, it frees up one joystick for another function

its frees up on hand for the driver to use for something else (other input switches, point to the field with his finger, tap someone on the shoulder....)

also, one joystick inputs gives you a command that indicates how much you want to go forwards or reverse, and a seperate command that indicates how fast you want to turn.

This allows you to integrate sensors on your robot in a straightforward manner, like speed limit sensors, or using the yaw rate sensor to measure how fast you are turning

allowing closed loop feedback to be implemented to make the robots movements more stable and predictable. For example, the driver joystick is commanding a right turn at half the max rate, and the yaw rate sensor indicates the bot is turning slower than that, so the 'turn' command is increased to casue the bot to turn faster.

or even better yet, when the driver is commanding the robot to go straight (up the ramp for example) and the yaw rate sensor detects the robot is starting to turn, the feedback loop can keep the robot going straight all by itself.

This sort of thing is not as straightforward if you use two joysticks to steer.