Driver's Stations

[akoscielski3]

How does everyone secure the laptop to the driver station. Last year we just had it sitting there and could have easily fell off. I dont want that again.

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

How does everyone secure the laptop to the driver station. Last year we just had it sitting there and could have easily fell off. I dont want that again.

Zip ties? Duct tape?

Duck tape?

[akoscielski3]

I think zipties is the way i will go lmao. I dont think the programmers will want duct tape on their brand new laptop... I was thinking of Velcro but then there would be Velcro on the bottom of the laptop forever.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

I think zipties is the way i will go lmao. I dont think the programmers will want duct tape on their brand new laptop... I was thinking of Velcro but then there would be Velcro on the bottom of the laptop forever.

We use Velcro.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by Hallry

We use Velcro.

Do you leave the Velcro on after The season? If so does it get annoying? and if you take it off isnt there sticky stuff left on the bottom of the laptop?

[Peyton Yeung]

We have made lexan buckles that hold the laptop down. The joysticks are also held down with lexan. The buckles screw into a plywood DS. For the past two years we made ours into a fold up box with a handle. We are pretty fast about getting in and out. It is a little heavy but in our next iteration we plan on adding back pack straps.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

Do you leave the Velcro on after The season? If so does it get annoying? and if you take it off isnt there sticky stuff left on the bottom of the laptop?

I'm not certain, but I believe we keep the velcro on the laptop all year (or on the laptop safety case that it's in when we use it).

[BJC]

We use an aluminum briefcase. I think that started in 2009 although I'm not sure if we pioneered it or not. Sense then many teams in our area have begun to do this because it is very easy to carry, set up and takes up minimal space in the driver station. I can't even imagine going back to mounting stuff to a board.

Our briefcase looks something like this: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl...:429,r: 1,s:0

[thefro526]

We build IO panels to fit the Robot. Sometimes we'll keep the same one, other times we won't.



I built that IO in 2009, we also used it in 2010. In 2011 we used a similar design but replaced the right most Button Array with a Joystick for Arm Control.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by thefro526

We build IO panels to fit the Robot. Sometimes we'll keep the same one, other times we won't.

I built that IO in 2009, we also used it in 2010. In 2011 we used a similar design but replaced the right most Button Array with a Joystick for Arm Control.

Was it too bulky and heavy to carry? or was it pretty easy?

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

Was it too bulky and heavy to carry? or was it pretty easy?

It was a little on the bulky side, if memory serves me, it was about 48"x12" and a little on the heavy side, maybe 15lbs or so.

I usually carried it on my back using a Guitar strap or we'd throw it on the bottom of our cart so it wasn't a big deal. (I'm also 6'5" so a 4 foot long control board is nothing)

Really Old Picture For Reference:

[AlecMataloni]

Originally Posted by BJC

We use an aluminum briefcase. I think that started in 2009 although I'm not sure if we pioneered it or not. Sense then many teams in our area have begun to do this because it is very easy to carry, set up and takes up minimal space in the driver station. I can't even imagine going back to mounting stuff to a board.

2009 was our first year with the briefcase as well, IIRC.

BTW, Seeing our briefcase OIs side by side this year during our awesome qualification match at IRI was pretty awesome.

[msimon785]

Team 1515 has driven a fairly unique "gamepad" in the past 2 years- touch screen. We use a single 3 axis joystick to control the drive (both years mecanum) and the touch-screen to control everything else.
It's really quite cool. For instance, in Logomotion, we had 2 main screens: Drive and Maintenance modes.

Within Maintenance mode, there were animated thumbnails of the mecanum wheels, and FWD/Rev buttons, 2 speeds each. This allowed us to completely test the drivetrain. Addtionally, we had the ability to control both our forklift style lift and pneumatic joints in the arm. For the forklift, we had both absolute and relative control. We could also deploy the minibot.

Within Drive mode, every thing was streamlined in order to ensure speedy gameplay. To raise our lift, when on absolute control, we could touch any peg on the full onscreen pegboard, thus causing the lift to go to that height. (It was self-calibrating, every time it touched the bottom, it registered 0). When on relative control, we could simply press UP and DOWN arrows to take the lift to that height. Of course the pneumatics were simple, press and they change position. When the operator pressed the 'Deploy Minibot" button, an "are you sure" window popped up, and on OK, it deployed.

Consequently, we won the Innovation in Control in both the Los Angeles and Denver regional this year. The screen was a donation from a local company. The connection between the touchscreen and the classmate is relatively complex. It utilizes an industrial PLC from Automation direct and a cypress carrier board. However, if your team has the resources with which to build one, it makes the driving experience incredibly simple.

[Ninja_Bait]

That's awesome. I wish we had something like that, but our programming team is just not that good.

[linuxboy]

What touchscreen did you use? Would you recommend it? I have been told to get together a list of parts that I would like to order, and while having that may not be considered "necessary" it sure looks like fun!

Oliver