DEWBOT IV Control

Operator Interface

The operator interface consisted of three joysticks, 10 push buttons and 1 switch. Two joystics were used for "tank drive" steering, the third was used for manual arm placement. The switch was used to toggle between the manual joystick and the use of the push buttons.

The ten push buttons corresponded to actions on the robot: Capture, Catch, Park, Possess, Armed, Hurdle, Prepare To Place (PTP), Place and Reset. The buttons were color coded and were in a left to right order that would normally be used in game play. (The unlabled black button was used in the development of the software and as a "just in case" button).

Software

The programming for tank drive was fairly clear and is something that prior robots had.

The fork-lift-catapult was controlled by a state machine. A limit switch on the robot sensed the lowest position of the fork-lift. There was a shaft encoder attached to the lifting drum that gave the position of the lift in the carriage. There was limit switch at the top to keep the carriage from coming off the rails.