[Specialagentjim]

Originally Posted by wmurphy

I would appreciate your thoughts on the optimum way (including size, shape, dimensions, material, control(s) placement, etc.) to design the Operator Interface. What ideas do you have to make it User Friendly and RUGGED? Any pictures would be welcomed. Also, how are you attaching your joysticks? Thanks!

Attaching Joysticks: We're a fan of velcro. Keep in mind that bad things happen, and sometimes you need to rip a joystick off. We had this happen when a connector on a joystick had accidnetly been dragged from the pits to the field while late for a match. We got there and realized we had a joystick with no end connector.

Materials: Lexan's great. It looks good, its durable, and nice to mount to (drill some holes and use zip ties to hold wires in place

Shape: We're doing a folding design this year, so we'll bring a box to the field, unfold it on the shelf, and it lays our controls out nicely, Chasis driver on the right, arm operatior on the left.

Size: 69" x 12" are your max dimensions. 69" is huge though, we mapped out our controls saturday and we're only using about 50" and thats with a dashboard system.