Radios/Mixing

Channel mixing can direct the motion of 1 control stick on the transmitter into 2 motors, allowing driving and steering with a single control. Without this ability, you would have to control the wheels on the left and right side of the bot with two separate controls (called "tank steering"). Some drivers prefer tank steering, but on many radios it's much harder to activate a robot weapon when both hands are needed for driving.

Channel mixing can be done in the robot with a Dual ESC board that has that feature. When you want to drive a bot with independent ESCs using a single control, you will either need an inexpensive channel mixing device in the bot, or will need to program mixing in the transmitter.

Programming

Important: The cheapest transmitters have aircraft-specific mixing, or no mixing at all. Your transmitter must have at least TWO programmable mixes to change tank steering.

The following mix has been tested on the Spektrum DX5-Pro, FlySky Noble, and Futaba 3PJ.

Caption text

Mix Option 1		Mix Option 2
Steering in Left ESC		Steering in Left ESC
Throttle in Right ESC		Throttle in Right ESC
Programable Mix 1		Programable Mix 1
Master - Steering		Master - Steering
Slave - Throttle		Slave - Throttle
Right Rate -100		Right Rate +100
Left Rate -100		Left Rate +100
Programable Mix 2		Programable Mix 2
Master Throttle		Master Throttle
Slave Steering		Slave Steering
Rate Reverse (push) +100		Rate Reverse (push) -100
Rate Forward (squeeze) +100		Rate Forward (squeeze) -100
Steering set to Reverse		Steering set to Reverse
Throttle set to Normal		Throttle set to Reverse

Additional Resources

• This guide explains how to improve tank mode, drive with one stick, and add a switch to drive inverted: Team Cosmos mixing guide
• Programming the FlySky FS-i6 Transmitter for Combat Robotics
• Programming the Taranis Q X7 Transmitter for Combat Robotics
• Troubleshooting Combat Robot Channel Mixes