Movement Joystick

How to use the Movement Joystick robot skill

An on-screen joystick that drives the robot. Drag the thumb pad with a mouse or a finger and the robot moves in that direction, at a speed set by how far from the centre you drag.

It does not talk to hardware itself. It sends movement commands to whichever movement panel is in the project - Continuous Rotation Movement Panel, Auto Position, a custom one, anything. Without a Movement Panel in the project, dragging the pad does nothing.

Requirements

• One movement panel robot skill in the project, configured and connected.
• Nothing else. Multiple joysticks are allowed in one project.

Adding it to a project

1. Add a Movement Panel skill and set it up so the robot drives.
2. Add Movement Joystick (Remote Control category).
3. Drag the pad. Up is forward, down is reverse, left and right turn.
4. Optionally resize the skill window - the pad fills whatever space it is given.

Using it

• Drag the thumb pad in the direction you want to go.
• Distance from centre sets the speed, up to the configured maximum.
• Release - with Stop when released on, the pad snaps back to the centre and the robot stops. With it off, the pad stays where you left it and the robot keeps going.
• The pad works with touch, so it is usable on a tablet or phone browser connected to ARCx.

Configuration

The Window tab sets the robot skill's window title, its size on the workspace and notes about what it does in this project.

Safety

With Stop when released turned off, the robot will continue driving after you let go of the pad, and will continue if the browser tab loses focus or the page is closed. Leave it on unless you have another way to stop the robot.

Troubleshooting

See also

• Continuous Rotation Movement Panel - drive two or more continuous rotation servos
• Auto Position (movement panel) - walking gaits for legged robots
• Wiimote - drive the same Movement Panel from a Wii Remote

Control Commands for the Movement Joystick robot skill

There are Control Commands available for this robot skill which allows the skill to be controlled programmatically from scripts or other robot skills. These commands enable you to automate actions, respond to sensor inputs, and integrate the robot skill with other systems or custom interfaces. If you're new to the concept of Control Commands, we have a comprehensive manual available here that explains how to use them, provides examples to get you started and make the most of this powerful feature.

This skill has no control commands.

It is an input device: it sends movement to the project's movement panel, and nothing sends commands to it.

Moving the robot from a script

To do from a script what the joystick does with the mouse, use the Movement object. It reaches the same Movement Panel the joystick does.

Example - react to someone driving with the joystick:

while (true) {

  Movement.WaitForForward();

  print("Someone is driving me forward");

  Movement.WaitForStop();
}

Changing the joystick's settings from a script

The button radius, maximum speed, dead zone and release behaviour are configuration settings. They are not settable with a control command; change them in the configuration dialog.