We drove a robot with an iPhone =] Here is the link to our sweet video! (Sorry there is no sound) Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-3dCn7d3ZA
Looks very nice! I have downloaded the app on my ipod touch but have yet to try driving the robot with it. Do you think GDC will allow this to be used at the competition?
As long as you have a driver station controlling the robot.
<R79> Other than the system provided by the ARENA, no other form of wireless communications shall be used to communicate to, from or within the OPERATOR CONSOLE.
This would indicate it is unlikely unless you somehow tether the iPhone to the stations to make the connection and disable any wireless output to the satisfaction of the inspectors.
I think that with the pressure and chaos that the drivers experience during the match it would be easiest to use joysticks anyways.
What if your iPhone got a text while you were using the app? I don’t think you’d be using that again.
That’s awesome! I love it. What app is this?
What application is that?
[EDIT]
Looking around the appstore i found “MungoGamer Steering Wheel” which has the exact same GUI as what is shown in that video. So, if i may be so bold as to guess how you pulled this off. iPhone connects to then Mungoserver on a computer which is running driver station. DS detects Mungo as a joystick, and values are sent as normal joystick values over the connection to the robot?
I got a similar app called DS Lite. I haven’t tried it yet, but the GUI isn’t as nice as the one in the video. Although, it does have a neat virtual I/O board. I’m almost certain that you wouldn’t be allowed this during competition. The rules are (for good reasons) quite strict about wireless communications.
Yea, im actually the person who created DS Lite 
(which is why I was asking what app this was) and yea, the GUI is still under work.
nice work 
What happened to this. Looks like it got pulled from the app store and the version I have doesn’t work anymore.
My two cents, but other than attracting attention, it doesn’t seem very practical and effective competition-wise. The range is much smaller, it needs to be picked up and held, and you don’t get that kinetic feel or tensions that joysticks have. My personal opinion, but I just personally thing that creativity is only as good as the advantage and competitive edge that it can reap.
We never had the thought or plan to use it for competition, we found it very useful for demos and light testing. For example, we would use it and drive the robot around at lunch or at school carnival events.
Ah, I see. In that case, I would agree full heartily.
My team used an iPad to control our robot this year. Take a look at my uploaded pictures
Is the app published in the app store or is it a developer app? We have this flat robot that is begging to have a big sheet of polycarb bolted to it and be driven by ipad.
It is a published app. But there are MANY more steps that need to be done to interface with the DS, for example, custom hardware, software developed by myself etc…that I will not be releasing anytime soon (sorry). The app will simply not work by itself.