DRIVER STATION DESIGNS

[Gray Adams]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a...426_161803.jpg

We came up with a new driver station between competitions, to remedy trying to not drop everything while it's falling out of my arms. We designed this out of 1/16" 5052 aluminum, anodized black. It consists of 2 parts, one is the part that you see holds everything and bends down in front with "gunnrobotics" laser cut out. The other piece slides in, turning the long, essentially U shaped piece into a tube, which really helps with stiffness. I was worried about it bending or breaking until we riveted that piece in. We made it so tall (4" or so) because that joystick on the left actually sticks down about 3.75" and we needed to support it somehow.

I can post the CAD and/or a few more pictures if anyone wants them.

[gyroscopeRaptor]

I'll get pics tomorrow of 3633's, but we had a lexan surplus and a new press so we took a 36x14x1/4 in piece of smoked lexan, bent it in front and back, placed woodblocks with marine velcro to hold the joysticks in place (and it's rock solid), then put two thin pieces of lexan to hold the laptop down with one piece holding it by the handle. It's clean, light, and very simple. We did have trouble reaching the ethernet and usb ports because we did not give the laptop enough room on the side, but we will get port savers made in the offseason to make them work better.

A requirement not listed above is to make it versatile and reusable in future years with many possible control schemes.

[Alexa Stott]

I also recommend that all teams use the pigtail! It's easier to get a new pigtail than it is to fix/replace a broken ethernet port on your DS laptop.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

I also recommend that all teams use the pigtail! It's easier to get a new pigtail than it is to fix/replace a broken ethernet port on your DS laptop.

SECONDED

[z_beeblebrox]

At our first regional, we took a piece of Lexan and velcroed our laptop and joysticks to it. By our second regional we had switched to two logitech gamepads, which both our programming team (me) and our drive team liked much more. We still kept the Lexan as it was a handy place to put then when not in use. Another thing we learned is not to use the throttle on the KOP joysticks when any precision is needed. It has some "wiggle" and is too small to position accurately.

[Dr. Shocker]

Our team has, for the past 2 years, used a small brief-case-esque box, with play station controllers. By using PS controllers our drivers are able to have more freedom in where they decided to stand, and over all it's more compact.

[cgmv123]

This wasn't ours, and I don't know who's it is, but it sure does look cool.

[jblay]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

This wasn't ours, and I don't know who's it is, but it sure does look cool.

It looks like that is more suitable for transmitting telegraphs than controlling a robot.

[Gray Adams]

Here's the CAD to our driver station, since someone asked. If you need me to explain why anything is the way it is, feel free to ask.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2062715/DriverStation.zip

http://gyazo.com/47b2f0beb1462f1bbd5137ad20b54a55.png
http://gyazo.com/d4c4867a8e07845553abd527c1fa1dd1.png
http://gyazo.com/d56d5d96ed0e9a1c73b3e993e6b7fd77.png
http://gyazo.com/d782fc9b19ddeb66f1790af3ea124c49.png

[ablatner]

Originally Posted by Gray Adams

Here's the CAD to our driver station, since someone asked. If you need me to explain why anything is the way it is, feel free to ask.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2062715/DriverStation.zip

http://gyazo.com/47b2f0beb1462f1bbd5137ad20b54a55.png
http://gyazo.com/d4c4867a8e07845553abd527c1fa1dd1.png
http://gyazo.com/d56d5d96ed0e9a1c73b3e993e6b7fd77.png
http://gyazo.com/d782fc9b19ddeb66f1790af3ea124c49.png

We love this driver station. How'd you do the sheet metal fabrication and bending?

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by ablatner

We love this driver station. How'd you do the sheet metal fabrication and bending?

We had our sponsor Vander-Bend Manufacturing do it for us on their laser cutter and press brakes. They've done a few things for us this season, and we're hoping to involve them even more next year. I can give you the contact info of the person we've been communicating with if you'd like (feel free to mention my name and GRT). I believe 846 has them as a sponsor too, so I'm sure they'd be happy to help you guys out with anything.

[Chickenonastick]

Originally Posted by Gray Adams

We had our sponsor Vander-Bend Manufacturing do it for us on their laser cutter and press brakes. They've done a few things for us this season, and we're hoping to involve them even more next year. I can give you the contact info of the person we've been communicating with if you'd like (feel free to mention my name and GRT). I believe 846 has them as a sponsor too, so I'm sure they'd be happy to help you guys out with anything.

Are there handles on that thing? Love the design and the fact that it has its own "belly pan".

[ablatner]

Originally Posted by Gray Adams

We had our sponsor Vander-Bend Manufacturing do it for us on their laser cutter and press brakes. They've done a few things for us this season, and we're hoping to involve them even more next year. I can give you the contact info of the person we've been communicating with if you'd like (feel free to mention my name and GRT). I believe 846 has them as a sponsor too, so I'm sure they'd be happy to help you guys out with anything.

Thanks! That'd be great if I could get their info. We've been looking for some new sponsors to give us a little more manufacturing resources.

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by Gray Adams

Here's the CAD to our driver station, since someone asked. If you need me to explain why anything is the way it is, feel free to ask.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2062715/DriverStation.zip

http://gyazo.com/47b2f0beb1462f1bbd5137ad20b54a55.pngLinks are DEAD, see imgur album in new post.
http://gyazo.com/d4c4867a8e07845553abd527c1fa1dd1.png
http://gyazo.com/d56d5d96ed0e9a1c73b3e993e6b7fd77.png
http://gyazo.com/d782fc9b19ddeb66f1790af3ea124c49.png

Sorry to bring this back up, but someone messaged me saying the links are dead and I can't edit the post, so here they are again.

http://imgur.com/a/xfkDh

[carrillo694]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

This wasn't ours, and I don't know who's it is, but it sure does look cool.

Love the steampunk. I would love to know how the operators feel about using those knife switches in retrospect...