What type of joysticks can we use?

[Wacko324]

I have a joystick I want to use for our control system, but I'm not sure if it will work. What kind of joysticks are we suppose to use?

[kjohnson]

I think you can use and kind as long as it will plu into the control box. Check the FIRST Q&A.

[OneAngryDaisy]

our arm operator is all giddy about using a playstation 1 controller

[robolemur1236]

wow. silly me, i thought we had to use the right-hand only joysticks

[Team1425]

Hi!
We are a rookie team, and we also have a few questions.
One: We tried a Microsoft Sidewinder Precicison Pro, and it did not seem to work. Any thoughts about this?
Two: What brand are the included joysticks and where can you get them?

Thanks!!!

Team 1425

[pras870]

You can use any joystick to your heart's content as far as the rules go. However, if I remember, the ports on the robot controller are 15 pin (might be wrong). So any joystick that is a USB interface and such will need an adapter or be re-wired to work with the OI.

[ErichKeane]

We also tried a MS Sidewinder, but the 3d pro. It seemed to center at 80/80 instead of 127/127 for some reason. Instead, we found a cheap one witha really good return spring, that centers w/in 4 or 5.

[Ryan Albright]

you are aloud to use any controller as long as they fit the ports on the controlelr last year we used a steering wheel

[ErichKeane]

We did want to use a steering wheel, but a DB15 steering wheel that recenters correctly to 127, and doesnt suck, like most of the devices we have tried, is hard to come by!

[Team375]

Originally Posted by OneAngryDaisy

our arm operator is all giddy about using a playstation 1 controller

We wanted to use a PS1 controller but we couldn't find a way to change the plug to a 15 pin plug. We know how to change it to 25 but we didn't thionk it was possible to change it to 15.

[10intheCrunch]

Originally Posted by ErichKeane

We did want to use a steering wheel, but a DB15 steering wheel that recenters correctly to 127, and doesnt suck, like most of the devices we have tried, is hard to come by!

We're using a steering wheel this year (after testing over the summer), and it doesn't center to 127, or max out at 0 or 254...but it's all good. Just compensate appropriately in your code for the difference, using #define constants for the center and extreme values. The only wheel we could find that would plug into the joystick (game) port on the OI was a saitek something or another...works well enough for our purposes.

~Alex Baxter
Team 254

[jacob_dilles]

i started a project last year and im tryin to finish it (inbetween school and, you know, building a robot)... it looks like its not gonna be done in time for 2004 reagonals. its basicly a PIC that takes the ascyrnous serailness of a PS2 controler (3 pin ness) and turns it into 2 15 pin analouge/digital ports. as of now the 2 joysticks work, still workin on the buttons.

to bad there isnt an off-the-shelf box that does this.