Custom Driver Stations

[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.