I have seen a lot of teams using buttons in their driver control. I’ve never used them I’ve always used the sticks, so can someone tell me the point of using buttons?
You normally use buttons for actions that require only 2 states (like pneumatics with On/Off). Sometimes I use buttons because I already used all the Joysticks so the only way to get something controlled is by using a button. You can also use the buttons to make for example an arm go to certain positions so the drivers don’t need to worry about bringing it to the right height.
To continue what people have said, a button is a digital input and a stick is an analog input. Basically, a button can either be pressed or not pressed, but a joystick can be moved in 360 degrees and with more or less force. My team prefers to use the joysticks for our drive train because it allows us to be more accurate, but we use buttons for pretty much everything else because for most other functions we don’t need a variable speed or direction. Beware, however, that a button can only move a motor at a set speed, unless you use another function to make that speed variable.
It is especially useful for getting and holding lift arms to specific heights.
Fiddling with the joystick takes some concentration. If you have to hold the arm while manipulating the grabber it is more tasks for you to do at once.
buttons also allow for one person driving in some games.
The buttons make it easy and automated to perform tasks so you can concentrate on the real skillful elements like when to release the item from the claw. Focus on one thing at a time and let the computer do the rest.
Other uses for buttons:
- Go to specific arm heights
- Keep a rotational angle set so you can just drive
- scooper/claw position management (keep it level so you don’t drop the cube)
- arm/release claw/scooper
- Play a sound on the speaker to taunt your opponent
- turn left/right by 90 degrees
Thank you everyone for your responses!