Robot Motors Drifting?

[Alan Anderson]

This probably isn't an issue for you, but just in case: make sure your code isn't trying to control a Victor while you actually have a Jaguar installed, and vice versa. The "neutral" signals for each are slightly offset from each other.

[FrankJ]

To test the PWM signal to the motor controller: Hard code a zero speed command and let the robot sit enabled. If the motors do not run, your PWM is good. It seems we had to add a dead band so if the controller were close to zero it sent a zero command to the PWM.

[ianonavy]

If you can't figure out how to calibrate either the joystick or the speed controller, you can actually fix this through programming.

I'm not sure what language you're using, so here's some pseudo-Java

// Teleop
final double THRESHOLD = 0.04;

double x = joystick.getX();
double y = joystick.getY();

if (Math.abs(x) > THRESHOLD || Math.abs(y) > THRESHOLD) {
    drive(y, x);
} else {
    stopDriveMotors();
}

Basically, your motors won't drive unless the magnitude of your joystick values is greater than a certain threshold. That way, if your joysticks are reading "0.03" when they're at rest and should be "0.0", your motors will still be off. This of course means you'll be unable to drive the robot at 3-4% speed, but does the robot even move at that speed anyway?

Hope this helps!