Controls

Controls are one aspect of driving that are often overlooked. Most of the time, you are just stuck with whatever controls the programmer happened to put onto the cortex. I believe that in order for a driver to be effective, they need to have their personalized set of controls.

Tips for choosing controls

• Make sure you know everything the robot can do. Don’t make a set of controls that’s missing some abilities.
• Hold the controller when you are setting up the controls with your programmer.
• Try to keep buttons for the same part of the robot on the same side of the controller (ex. Intake is the right-hand control button). This is to prevent stuttering and freezing up while you are trying to maneuver your robot. This is also because you won’t have to press two buttons at one time for one part of the robot (ex. You won’t need to open and close your claw at the same time)
• Use your dominant-hand joystick for side-to-side precise turning.
• Make sure you don’t need to use one finger to press two buttons at the same time
• Have a good balance of automatic controls and manual controls: Having pre-programmed functions to do certain tasks saves a ton of time, but these methods can sometimes break. Have the option to manually take control of your robot if this does happen.