mechanically R/C'ing a joy stick
Im in a robotics class right now and we are designing a robot for a competion. We finally got a hold of a wheel chair and plan on using all the guts out of it to power our robot. We are now at the process of trying to "R/C" this robot and I convinced my teachers to by a Spektrum DX7 transmitter to control it because they liked my own personal DX7 so much. We still have the original joy stick that came with the wheel chair and we plan on using it to control the robot.
What I would like suggestions on is a fairly simple but effective way to mechanically "R/C" the wheel chair joy stick via our new DX7 transmitter. I have several ideas but I would like to see what everyone else thinks about them.
I have 2 servos and plan on controling it on an x,y axis type deal. I made a few sketches that hopefully make sense but basicly the first one is 2 "slides" that move back and forth on their own axis via a servo and a pushrod. (I realize I only drew one servo in there but I will probably go with 2 servos and "Y" them together for each end of the slide so it does not bind). The second drawing is built on a big base on the bottom and then it has a horizontal sliding platform that slides up and down and on that platform it has another block that slides back and forth, all controled by 2 servos.
The joystick is about 3/4" diameter and 2" tall. It has a total of maybe 45 to 50 degrees of travel from one extreeme edge to the other. and it has a full 360 degrees of travel.
I dont know if I am overthinking this or not but I would like to see what you guys think.
David