DRIVER STATION DESIGNS

[CalTran]

We've gotten plenty of compliments about ours before. I'll see if I can dig up a picture of our station and post it tomorrow (All our media files are on the school network) but I'll try and describe ours:

Basically, we started with a snowboard. We then painted it black. Slapped on some velcro that fits a laptop size, and left enough space on both sides for at least 2 joysticks each. (IE max configuration of our board could theoretically be 2 joysticks - laptop - 2 joysticks. ) Usually how it ends up being configured would be 2 joysticks, a laptop, then our operator box.

I'd say that if there's one thing we could add to it, it would be a carrying handle and or wheels. Make it kinda longboard style...

[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.

[carrillo694]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?

It's a FIRSTtouch, provided in the KOP and accessible through the WPIlibj API.

[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.

[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...

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

Hellllllloooooooooo Steampunk...

[Ernst]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?

I'm not sure about them, but for our driver station we used a Cypress PSoC 3 with a carrier and enclosure from eStop/AndyMark.

Regarding the driver station itself, it has a frame of aluminum l-channel, bolted together, with a piece of 1/4 inch plexiglass on top and bottom. It has two joysticks, a variety of buttons, potentiometers, and switches.

Looking inside of it, from left to right, you can first see two red batteries for the blue cold cathode ray lights. The small blue boxes are for the lights as well. The black area beneath the joysticks is for an Enercell backup battery for the laptop. The little green LED is for the Cypress chip, and the far black box is full of autonomous mode switches. The panel with the buttons is on a hinge for easy access to the wiring.

Overall, it was fun to build and wire, and, I think, looks pretty good.

TL;DR: Aluminum and plexiglass and custom button layouts. Also, lights.

[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

[slijin]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

I love the PID constants at the bottom.

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

We painted it and wrapped the edges in gaffers tape to prevent any splinters.

Ours was made with 1/2" aluminum honeycomb, and had 1/2" aluminum C-channel press-fit onto the sides for that purpose.

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you secure everything you put on there. I've seen teams not even bother to screw the joysticks into their board so they just slide off as they're carrying them. It makes me cringe every time. That's a great way to break a joystick.

Our personal preference is to slap down one long strip of Velcro down the length of the OI, then add additional, short strips where needed.

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

What did you use to connect all your switches and buttons? Was it a custom board that all went to 1 usb connected to the driver station laptop or did you use a COTS board?

As previously mentioned, it's the Cypress FIRSTtouch from the KoP. We designed and soldered a 6"x8" PCB that acted as a shield for the PSoC, to allow for easy replacement. We considered the CCI as an alternative, but decided that the lack of outputs on the CCI was too much of a disadvantage to use that instead. (Every arcade pushbutton corresponds to a given shooter setpoint, and lights up when that button is pushed to indicate the active setpoint.)

If need be, I can supply the circuit diagram for that box and/or pictures of the guts of that box.

As Joe mentioned, there have been serious issues with robustness with the PSoC in the past (the 2010 PSoC issues still give me nightmares), and there are cons against a custom OI. It becomes a troubleshooting point (using the DS I/O tab is the easiest way to check this), as well as that development and fabrication time takes away from practice time. On the flip side, it allows for continuity - 4 years later, 2, or even the next year, who's going to remember what the trigger on the operator stick did?

That being said, there are a lot of considerations that go into developing a custom OI box like ours. We were fortunate enough to get the plate done on a CNC router at our sponsor Cox and Co, but it would have taken infinitely longer (due to metric drill holes and non-circular holes, as well as precise dimensioning) to make the plate by hand in our lab.

Physically, you need to design it for serviceability, which is no simple task. Every connection between the PSoC interface circuit board and any button/switch on the OI (with some exceptions) consisted of a screw terminal connection on the shield end, and a quick disconnect on the button end, so there would never be a need to resolder if a button broke mid-competition. In the case of our auton selector switch (the black rotary switch at the center left), we soldered header pins to the shield and crimped a 1x5 .1" female header onto wires coming off solder joints, and used 1x3 .1" female headers (much like PWMs) on the potentiometers at the top. Wires were given extensive length so that the lid could be flipped over the back and allow one to inspect the shield and access it easily. We even kept an allen key in the box if we ever had to replace the switch that had a custom-made handle secured by set screws.

But even more important than serviceability is that it needs to be robust. If stuff keeps breaking when the OI gets jostled around, that's not a good OI - the point of an OI is to ease operation, not make you stop and troubleshoot it. We made liberal use of screw-down wire clamps so that wires didn't shift around inside the OI (which also helped minimize the rat's nest that the guts of such items usually become), and made sure to stress-relief everything that could come out - especially the USB cord going from the OI box to the DS.

[JCharlton]

That was ours Here's another shot with the driver's controls (and all the masking tape removed).