IFI Critique

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

I think that giving teams access to gamepad-type controls would SAVE teams time, energy and money.

Logitech's Dual Action Gamepad would give teams access to 12 buttons, 4 analog channels on 2 X-Y joysticks, plus a POV button with 8 positions for $20 list price, and about $10 on eBay.

2 of these bad dads would allow more than half of teams to skip building a OI at all. They could just Velcro the OI & radio to a board, plug in to gamepads and be done.

Joe raises a great point and accurately illustrates how easy it would be to create an Operator Interface is USB devices were supported. And that is exactly the problem that I have with this whole idea. When we get to the point that creating the OI for our robots is just a matter of picking a gamepad out of a pile and plugging it in, then I think we have lost something very important.

OK, right up front I will admit that I am probably in a shrinking minority within the FIRST community. But there are those of us that are very concerned that the kit of parts contents, the structure of the rules, and the "easier is better" philosophy is taking too much of the challenge out of FIRST. Removing too much of the challenge removes too much of the accomplishment when you solve the problem. Removing too much of the challenge removes too much of the innovation in the solutions. And, perhaps most important, removing too much of the challenge removes too much of the fun.

-dave