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
Most twin-stick transmitters have a menu option for 'Elevon' or 'Delta Wing' mixing. Turning on this option and plugging your left drive motor ESC into receiver channel CH1 (Aileron) and upir right motor ESC into CH2 (Elevator) give you basic forward/reverse throttle and left/right rotation control on your right-stick if using the US standard stick assignments.
Important: Some transmitters may have no mixing at all. If they have at least TWO programmable mixes it is possible to program your own mix:
The following mix has been tested on the Spektrum DX5-Pro, FlySky Noble, and Futaba 3PJ.
| 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 is interactive - tell it what the problem is, and it will tell you how to fix it.