[PhilBot]

Originally Posted by Abrakadabra

My theory is that it comes from the original purpose of these devices: "flight sticks", wherein if you push forward, you go down (i.e. in the negative direction), and if you pull back, you go up (i.e. in the positive direction. The trick is that when you are flying, the x-y plane cuts through your body from head to toe, and when driving a robot, we think of it as the floor.

This is all just speculation (i.e. I don't have any sources to quote), but it seems to make sense.

OK, I might buy that

Imagine the arguments I had when writing code for an underwater robot:

Vertical convention... Positive control value = increased depth.... or increased altitude?