Wireless/Wired Gamepads

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Wireless communication within the operator console is expressly prohibited by <R94>.

Well that answers that question then. Wired it is. (Should have thought to look in the Robot section for the Operator Console.) Went back to my OP and changed the question to just wired gamepads and what has worked for other teams.

Originally Posted by nickpaterni

We've used Xbox 360 wired controllers, and they've worked out pretty well. I think the biggest reason to use those over joysticks is that the drivers (typically) feel more comfortable with a video game controller in their hands. Most "kids these days" haven't ever used a joystick...

That's where I'm going to do some objective testing. Meaning I'm going to drive with a pair of joysticks, then drive with a gamepad and see which I like better. I think that joysticks are alright. Our mentors, however, are absolutely floored by the fact that FIRST uses Joysticks, and that we use Tank, of all things. They just think that tank is 1. Outdated as of WWII and 2. As unintuitive as control gets. Thus, one of our mentors has our programmers working on a sort of hybrid Arcade control (We'll put a whitepaper of this up when it's done.)