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Unread 20-01-2007, 15:31
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AKA: Adam Garcia
FRC #0114 (Eagle Strike)
Team Role: Student
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: Los Altos High School
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Re: Swerve drive control system

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze View Post
We've considered working up a crab-steer in the off-season. Our thoughts were to use a potentiometer/knob on a custom control box to steer a crab. If one uses a self-centering joystick, one will have to constantly maintain stick position to steer in that direction. Maybe you have a joystick with a twist or rotation option and momentary twists CW or CCW will jog the steer motor CW or CCW instead of going to set rotation...

APS
I agree with APS on this one. We did a crab drive for triple play, and tried to control the swivel by moving the joystick from side to side. Long story short, bad idea. A joystick that can rotate around the vertical would work, we also tried looking for one of those jog wheels that you find on remotes, the ones that return to center when you let go. I wold also recommend that you put a three position toggle switch on your control board that when you press it, centers your wheels so they all face foreward, and then turns the robot tank-style. This was a helpful feature for us, and allowed us to make turns that orient the entire robot that would have otherwise taken some wicked driving and some time. If there is any more help I or any of my team members can give you, let me know!