After having a slab of wood as our driver station for quite a few years we decided it was time to design and manufacture a new driver station for the future years. So, as a parting gift (fresh alum now) I got to work alongside others and we ordered the andymark driver station in silver and built that. After that was complete, it was too simple for us FRC kids, so we decided to go a level above and create a “top cover” for it. The purpose of this was to mainly hide all the wiring and have place holders for the controllers and laptop without the controllers falling out often as well as awesome nameplates for driver and operator.
So we CADed up the design in onshape with the specific requirements and lasered it.
Originally the design was created for the lexan to be one piece but unfortunately our laser was an inch too small. So we improvised and did it in two halves - straight down the middle. The sanding was done so the strip lights would look nicer and all the wiring would be hidden.
With that done we bolted it on with spacers in between the base and lexan to prevent bending.
The laptop has been velcroed down so it won’t fall or have the chance of slipping. The second monitor is there so we can magnify time on it. The nameplates are magnetic so they are interchangeable. Magnets were epoxied into the lexan as well as in the nameplates.
In order to power everything we used a laptop adaptor as the source. It powers the laptop, lights, and second monitor. All of it runs through 19V power distribution terminals.
In order to create a ethernet port to connect to FMS we cut one side of an already existing ethernet and fitted those wires into a new housing that we mounted on the lexan.
The green handle covers are 3d prints straight from the andymark website. They are a good idea, but looking back I would have designed different ones that would be more comfortable to hold onto, as they dig into your palm.
Overall, I would say that this summer project was a definite success and the new driver station is a much needed improvement for our team.
Teams building their own operator console should make sure they comply with the rules in section 9.9. I believe your custom Ethernet would likely qualify as a pigtail (R903), and the AndyMark base should ensure you meet the dimensions (R904). Nobody wants you to come to a competition only to discover at inspection that you can’t use your custom operator console.
Also, if you’re including custom Ethernet wiring, please do some connection tests. Maybe someone can lend you the equipment to do this properly. (I speak from bitter experience.)
Wow, that is super inspiring. Your solution on the wiring (using the Wago connectors) is a great use of what is essentially the Next Big Thing in FRC tech, and it makes me want to revisit our current solution (which is little better than the sheet of plywood you started with). Well done!
If anyone complains about the lights we can always turn them off, as it is remote controlled. There may even be a way to dim the lights (which we have yet to figure out).
Awesome! Glad you have that planned for. Would hate to see you guys have to gut the thing in order to disable the lights if there wasn’t an easy way to disable them (if needed).
This is outstanding. Great job, Celt-X! I didn’t notice this when I was able to inspect your robot at FIRST Champs, nor at IRI. I love it when a FIRST team takes an AndyMark product, puts their own spin on it and makes it better.
*FIELD wireless only. Other than the system provided by the FIELD, no other form of wireless communications shall be used to communicate to, from, or within the OPERATOR CONSOLE.
While I don’t believe this rule is intended to cover this specific case, a robot inspector could argue its application. I think you would be alright so long as it’s clear that remote control is not taking place during the match.
Good point - we could have used the DS lights to signal drivers from the stands (jk)
R905 doesn’t specify the type of wireless, but these LED strip lights use infrared, so they really can’t communicate over long distances anyway. The remote will always be with the DS, buried inside the controller cutout.
This looks great. Well done! We use the AndyMark Driver’s Station on 3940 as well, we might look into the top tray addition too.
I especially like the orbital sanded / frosted plastic on top. We started doing that on our robot this year, and we love the look. Also makes it quite easy to spot cracks.
I’ll also add that so long as you don’t change the LED status with the remote during a match, there shouldn’t be any issues at all as there would be no wireless communication happening at that time.
