6 Motor Arcade Drive

Programming Support VEXcode Pro V5 Text Tech Support
1

I’ve been looking to try and switch to a 6 motor drivetrain, and the configuration posts have been helpful, but I don’t know how to make it into an arcade drive. My current drive code goes like
LeftBack.spin(fwd, (Controller1.Axis3.value() + Controller1.Axis1.value()), velocityUnits::pct);
for each motor with the right side having a minus instead of a plus. Does this translate into 6 motors at all, or do I have to make a new way to code it?

2

That should work for all 6, but make sure you reverse the motors if needed depending on your gearing, or the motors will fight against each other. Here’s my current 6 motor code, yours should probably be somewhat similar:

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3

Wouldn’t the division be by 126 or 1.26 to properly set the values of the controller into velocity?

4

No, the outputs of the joysticks are 100 to -100, it may have been changed from 126 if it used to be that.

Screenshot_20230309-181433_kindlephoto-8071748
Screenshot_20230309-181433_kindlephoto-8071748742×999 385 KB

5

I’m not in pro though, could be different between different coding platforms

6

Using value will return -127 to 127 and position will return -100 to 100.

7

I see. Thanks for that. I’ll be sure to fix that tomorrow because I’ve been using value for all my drive codes.

8

The whole point of position() returning values in the range +/- 100 was so it could be directly used in APIs that take percentage as a parameter. We kept value() (which existed before the position() function was added) returning +/-127 as that was the traditional range for a VEX controller axis to return.

and for those interested, this is all position() does.

int32_t
controller::axis::position( percentUnits units  ) const {
    int32_t percent = value() * 100 / 127;
    return( percent );
}
9

I’m so honored to get a reply from the legendary jpearman!