Numpad on Driver Station?

[sjspry]

You can set up a custom input scheme if you don't mind doing some programming. In fact, this way you could use practically any USB peripheral -- easiest, however, would be a keyboard or numpad which requires no libraries.

All the rules seem to have to say about this is that all communications must pass through the driver station. And, intuitively, you should only be able to use your custom controls when the robot is active, in teleoperated mode.

EDIT:

I stand corrected, as per rule 75.

The Driver Station software provided on the FRC website (www.usfirst.org/frc/kitofparts) is
the only tool permitted to collate driver/operator inputs and communicate them to the
ROBOT. The Driver Station software must be revision 01.05.11.00 or newer.

This seems to imply you could send automated information to the cRIO bypassing the driver station. You could even lawyer it, and provide a layer of abstraction and cause a program to send automated information to the cRIO based on operator input! I somehow don't think they'll go for that, though.

Either way, this seems like a pretty stupid misinformed rule to me. Sure, you want everything to shut down when you tell it to, but assuming the driving code is within the predefined functions (except the disabled[...] ones), nothing bad would happen. Even with Murphy's Law, I doubt anyone is that unobservant.

You could perhaps demonstrate safety to an inspector (or just not tell them about it), but I wouldn't rely on it. Alternatively, http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=vjoy. That's probably the best option.