Advanced Gamepad Usage

Reading whether a button is currently pressed is enough for simple robots.

However, competitive FTC robots often need more advanced input handling.

For example:

• Press once to start the intake.
• Press again to stop it.
• Trigger an action only once.
• Detect when a button is released.

These behaviors require more than checking gamepad.a.

Continuous Input

The simplest input is checking whether a button is currently held.

if (gamepad1.a) {
    intake.start();
}

This code runs every loop while the button is held.

Rising Edge

A rising edge occurs once when a button changes from not pressed to pressed.

if (gamepad1.aWasPressed()) {
    intake.start();
}

Falling Edge

A falling edge occurs once when a button changes from pressed to not pressed.

if (gamepad1.aWasReleased()) {
    intake.start();
}

Toggles

A toggle changes between two states every time a button is pressed.

if (gamepad1.a && !previousA) {
    claw.toggle();
}

previousA = gamepad1.a;

Best Practices

• Avoid assigning multiple actions to the same button.
• Keep frequently used controls within easy reach.
• Use toggles for mechanisms that stay active.
• Use held buttons for manual control.

What's Next?

Now that you know how to build responsive TeleOp controls, you're ready to begin programming autonomous routines in the next section.