Custom Driver Stations

[Abhishek R]

We use two of the Logitech Gamepads. The buttons make it great to assign functions to, and are very easy to pick up. It also gives you some freedom of movement behind the glass.

While I agree, one driver is better than two because there is no lapse in communication, for some of our robots it's just not feasible. In 2012 and 2014, almost everything was done by the driver due to the automation of the robot in picking up and firing the balls, but because in 2013 we had to adjust angles, shooter speeds, and in 2015 the elevator and intake system made things too complex for the driver to handle (our manipulator had multiple sets of buttons - we basically had a shift key on the copilot gamepad).

Automation has been one of our team's strengths due to the hard work of our programmers, and that really lightens up a lot of the minute things the driver has to worry about.

I will say, the best way to assign robot functions to the drivers is like this, in my opinion: first, put all the robot drivetrain functions on the driver's side, and everything else on the copilot's side. Then, start moving robot functions from the manipulator to the driver until it impacts the driver's ability to maneuver the robot. For example, if you are using a gamepad, the first function assigned to the driver is the drivetrain to the two joysticks. Then, let's say you want the driver to be able to shoot, so you put that on a trigger. Then say you want the driver to be able to drop the intake to pick up a ball as well, but for whatever reason you are out of triggers, so you have to put it on one of the buttons. Since the driver will have to move their thumb off the drive stick to press the button, that function should be left with the copilot/manipulator.

We experiment with driver stations and setups all the time (this year we had a dual monitor setup!), so feel free to ask us any questions you may have.

[The other Gabe]

our team runs with two drives: one guy to actually drive the robot, the other to mash the buttons in order to make the lift lift totes and stuff... to compensate for issues with communication, they practice together a whole lot

[MaestroRoboto]

This year we used two Logitech controllers, the operator's controller had buttons replacing the triggers (it turns out that this controller is now discontinued ). On our driver's controller (we had a mecanum drive-train) one joystick controlled the direction you want to go and the other joystick controlled the magnitude, the driver also had control of our tray system. Our operator had both manual and set position control of our forks and elevator as well as an auto stacking routine at the human player station and an auto placing routine for scoring.

For the past few years on the team we have had two drivers. I don't believe we have had communication problems between our drivers, they get in a lot of practice time before our first competition.

[cjl2625]

We usually use two drivers.
Last year, it generally worked, but occasionally there were problems.
More than once, the driver would go to stuff the ball in the low goal, but the operator wanted to shoot in the high goal. So, the driver spins to eject the ball out the back, but the operator shoots and the ball gets launched away from the goal and backward over the truss.

This year, two drivers seems absolutely necessary, especially since we are a landfill bot. The driver uses two joysticks to control swerve, and I use a gamepad to operate.
I use 9 buttons (including triggers), both joysticks, and the D-pad. Some of those controls, however, are for manual override when the automation screws up.
Nevertheless, if one person had to keep track of all this while driving, their head would explode.

After a bit of practice, cooperation between the driver/operator became quite fluid. Now, there are almost never communication mistakes or confusion when we play our normal landfill game. The only time we've recently messed up was when human playering, which we don't do often. However, this too is becoming increasingly fluid as we practice with it.

[MaGiC_PiKaChU]

We used this custom controller for 2 years... The throttle works like a charm.
We have 4 pots for fine tuning (correcting the shooting angle in match, or max robot speed)
It is used by the operator

The main driver uses a logitech controller

[Poseidon5817]

This year we used 2 Xbox controllers and had 2 drivers. Our main driver had control over the base movement, with a button to remove speed restrictions, and another to open our clamps and our forks. I used every button on the joystick, with elevator, tote stopper, ramp, and a couple automatic sequences. The automatic sequences were really useful for repeatable tasks that we performed often. For example, after every stack, we need to open the clamps, raise the elevator, retract the tote stop, drop the elevator, and clamp the RC. Putting this on a button decreased the risk of the stack falling, and also the time taken for each stack.

This year almost requires 2 drivers. Communication shouldn't be a problem because of how much of a repeatable process this game is. After doing it so many times, the match should be memorized by both drivers. Last year would have been a better game for one driver, allowing the driver to make more complex moves without the copilot being confused as to when to shoot/outtake.