Drive TeamModule 2 of 8

Driver Station and Controls

Master the technical setup that connects humans to the robot: the FRC Driver Station software, the operator console, USB device ordering, controller mapping in WPILib, and how everything behaves on the competition field.

Driver Station and Controls is module 2 of 8 in the Drive Team guide. It picks up where The Drive Team and Its Roles left off and hands over to Driver Practice and Match Performance. Its 4 lessons are about 130 minutes of the guide's ~15 hours.

4 lessons~130 min34 lessons in this guide

Start with lesson 1 All of Drive Team

In this module

4 lessons

01The FRC Driver Station SoftwareThe single program that controls your robot. Tour its tabs, indicators, and the critical enable/disable/E-stop controls.35 min read

02USB Devices, Ordering, and the Operator ConsoleWhy USB port order matters, how to lock it so it never shifts, and how teams build custom operator consoles.30 min read

03Mapping Controllers to Robot ActionsHow button presses become robot motion in WPILib command-based code, and how to design a control scheme that's fast and forgiving.35 min read

04Connecting to the Field and FMSWhat changes when you plug into the competition field, and the pre-match connection routine that prevents a no-show robot.30 min read

Previous moduleThe Drive Team and Its Roles

Next moduleDriver Practice and Match Performance

Jargon check

FRC terms used in Driver Station and Controls

Longer reads

Articles that go deeper on this

FRC Programming Tutorial: Getting Started with WPILibA beginner-friendly guide to programming an FRC robot with WPILib: pick a language, install the tools, write your first robot program, and deploy it.5 min read

SystemCore: FRC's New 2027 Control System ExplainedSystemCore replaces the roboRIO for FRC 2027: verified specs, ports, wiring changes, WPILib code updates, and what your team should do before kickoff.12 min read

All 8 modules in Drive Team

Department overview