Driver's Station

[furiousgeorge]

is there an ideal format of how to layout the joysticks, blue box, router, and such for the driver's station so that power ports and plug-ins can easily reach the outlet

[Kristian Calhoun]

The router is not needed on the field at competitions, and (IMO) joystick placement should be left to the driver's discretion. However, I would make sure to mount the Driver Station so that the competition port and Ethernet ports are easily accessible to plug in the respective cables on the field. It is highly recommended that these ports do not face your drivers - I have seen them get disconnected in the middle of a match from driver movement (which left the robot disabled for the remainder of the match). For example, our driver station is mounted an angle between the operator's and driver's controls: http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos...820701_n.j pg If you do end up mounting your DS horizontally, as many teams do, just make sure that there is enough room to plug in.

[heydowns]

Do you mean on the field at FIRST events?

If so, all field connections generally come in from the driver's left when looking into the field.
The cables are also generally not long enough to reach the entire length of the station shelf, so I'd avoid putting your Driver's Station (blue box) all the way on the right of your operator's setup.
The more to the left, the easier time you'll have plugging in to it.

Also, when on the field at an event, you will not need your router that came in the kit.