Driving control scheme?

[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.

[bobotics319]

Team 319 is a Tank Drive.. we have used it for a long time... but this year we might try to make a Xbox control work with the system... or a PS2...

[dachickindapit]

We've used both in the past. Most of the time, we consult our drivers and see what they would prefer. After all, they are the ones interfacing with the machine most frequently!

Originally Posted by EricH

Tank drive (having one joystick control each side) is the most popular system in FIRST. It's simple, the driver practically doesn't have to think (well, he does, but it's more intuitive.) Having one control speed and the other turning--just use a steering wheel if you can find one that interfaces with the RC; or just use one joystick. The problem with this system is it's very hard to turn fast, unlike two sticks. If you must use an x and y system, use one stick, but two joysticks is preferred.

We used a pretty unique system last year. We had a 3-wheel swerve drive on our machine, so we couldn't use the standard tank drive. We used a joystick for throttle and a steering wheel for directionality. It seems very complicated to figure out, but it's actually pretty intuitive. I ran the robot in some demonstrations where the students couldn't attend, and it was definitely different, but I would use that control system again. If you try to use a swerve drive with it, make sure you have a good programmer! We actually ran out of space in the RC to be able to do everything we wanted to last year because of the swerve-drive code.

As far as finding a steering wheel goes, I think we brought one in from someone's old collection and modified the connector. It worked just fine.

[Ethulin]

No joysticks!

Thats right, the 492 base driver will not ven be using a joystick this year.

I don't wana spoil the suprise so you will just have to watch the PAC NW regional 1st week.

[David55]

A former student on our team, Daniel Gutmanas, came up with a code for perfect driving using just one joystick (nothing to do with the default code).
You can find all the information here: http://www.avivrobotics.net/tutorials/mixing.pdf

Also visit our team's site : http://www.avivrobotics.net

correction: In the article he wrote team 1557, meaning team 1577# - steampunk robotics (all those sleepless nights programming kinda confused him)

[EricS-Team180]

1 stick or 2...
This is always a hot debate in the FRC. Please see my comments (and those of others) from 2003 in this thread:

one stick or two stick drivv?


Eric

[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.

[pyroslev]

I recall (My brain's fired from a Bio Test) one year the toggle box with all the controls had two key switches:

1. Changed the direction of the tank drive. Forward was backwards and vice versa to allow quick controls
2. Switched between 1 joystick control for movement and tank drive.

Whether or not they were helped I don't remember but the First switch got a few nods for use that year (Zone Zeal)

[Vaillancourt88]

We were thinking about a neural interface, but decided against it just in case our driver has undiagnosed ADD:

OK, drive forward, turn 20 degrees right....ooh! look at that pretty girl in the stands...LOOK OUT!!!

[angelofsumthin]

well, the total control of tank drive can be simulated using a good programmer who can give you diagonals and tolerance levels so like if u push foward and then a little to the left, it'll just slightly bend left
~D

[ForgottenSalad]

As far as between tank drive and one stick drive, I find tank drive much easier to use. One thing that I would really like to try is thumbsticks (maybe time to pick up an old analog gamepad...) and have the left stick as the forward and backwards, and the right stick as the left and right.

[Tureyhall]

we actually HAVE to use two-joystick drive so that we can program in all the driving "extras" we need for this year's competition. It'd be too hard to program them in with 1 joystick drive. plus our drivers are used to tank drive (drivers are all juniors)....