Driving control scheme?

[Billfred]

1293 has always used one joystick. I don't know why exactly (probably because we started out with only two joysticks back in the old days).

[Joe J.]

One joystick for left and one for right but those are thumb joysticks on our PS2 controller.

[scottmso]

Our team uses tank drive for the most part, but just try both, let your driver(s) play with it, and see what they prefer.

[Jared Russell]

We've always been a one joystick team.

I don't get why two are more popular - there is no combination of left and right speeds that a single stick can't produce, and it leaves the other hand free for other things (as well as being more intuitive IMO).

And it's not like it's harder to program - it's in the default code!

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Abwehr

We've always been a one joystick team.

I don't get why two are more popular - there is no combination of left and right speeds that a single stick can't produce, and it leaves the other hand free for other things (as well as being more intuitive IMO).

And it's not like it's harder to program - it's in the default code!

They didn't do that until last year. But yes, now they give it to us (I think that may have been one of the big reasons we did switch over to it last year...).

[bombadier337]

We have "Halo Drive" (as coined by me for our team). We have the same control scheme as in Halo, left joystick is left, right, forward, and back, while keeping the same heading, and the right joystick controls rotation. And it drives soo heavenly and smooth, a nice change over our overly frictionated (cool word) tank drive from last year. Its the most maneuverable little chassis I've ever personally seen.

[MudThumper]

Team 435 : we have always used one controler, in the begining we had to intergrade the two controles in to one controler which was a pain in setting up the condinate system of the joystick. but now we can spend time on other things b/c the code is given to us for one joystick to control both driving wheels left and right

[devicenull]

That font is very, very hard to read.


We use tank.. I wouldn't have it any other way.. It is by far the best, as far as I can tell (Try to do this with a single joystick: Go forward, spin around one of the back wheels to 180, and go straight forward)

[Mr. Freeman]

This is interesting. Way more teams voting for two joysticks than one.

The one joystick really isn't that much harder to program. I worked it out on paper in about 15 minutes then typed that straight into the computer. I spent about 30 minutes (that is, 30 minutes of actually working) debugging it when the tracks on the bot kept randomly reversing/ignoring dead bands/spinning the same way.

Our team still has to make some motor linearization code and tweak the code but for the most part it's done.

I think that one joystick is easier to control and leaves the operator's other hand free for a possible second joystick/panel for weapons control. We learned last year that it's best not to have two drivers. That's very hard to coordinate correctly sometimes.

[cire]

I really perfer 2 joystick tankdrive because it gives you absolute control of the robot, you can control either side of you your drivetrain at any speed you want any time you want. However I do think that 1 joystick would be easier for people that havnt ever driven a robot before.

[Alan Anderson]

We started with both one- and two-joystick options last year. Yes, one joystick was easier for people who had never driven a robot before. However, for those with experience (or after a bit of practice), it was much easier to control using two joysticks.

The issue of turning while going backwards leads to some seriously nonintuitive behavior when using a single joystick. There are fixes, but none seem entirely satisfactory to me.

[aaeamdar]

Tank drive for the win (hehe)! Some members of our electrical team go in for differential steering (one for speed, one for turning) but us programmers will turn them around. I agree with the poll results. If tank drive were unavailable, one for all and all for one would make sense.

Paul Dennis

[samson234]

We split the responsibility of operating the robot between two people, a driver and an operator. The driver controls the robot's placement on the field and the speed of the drive while the operator is responsible for any appendages.I was the driver for my team in the 2005 season. I also drove the robot at the 2004-2005 IRI. I have driven with both single and double joystick controls. Personally, I fell more confident with two joysticks. Many people have said that two joysticks are easier to control for the experienced driver. I suggest that if your team plans on rotating drivers during the season that you use single stick controls. However, if you have enough time during the build season to practice driving, go with a two stick drive.

[Kim Masi]

Originally Posted by bombadier337

We have "Halo Drive" (as coined by me for our team). We have the same control scheme as in Halo, left joystick is left, right, forward, and back, while keeping the same heading, and the right joystick controls rotation. And it drives soo heavenly and smooth, a nice change over our overly frictionated (cool word) tank drive from last year. Its the most maneuverable little chassis I've ever personally seen.

What kind of wheels did you use for this configuration? it sounds very intriguing. but what kind of rotation were you controlling? is that the rotation of the drive train? or the shoulder mechanism?

[Kim Masi]

clearly, a dance dance revolution pad is the way to go as to how to control the robot. just kidding I don't think FIRST would approve...

seriously though, when I was the base driver last year, our team experimented with both the one stick and the two stick drive.

I prefer the two stick drive because it allows for versatility and it is easy to make small adjustments. Also, the two stick system allows me to rotate on a dime and on the fly. It is easy to maneuver.