Running the Drive Program with the V5 Brain – VEX Library

Running the Drive Program

The Drive program is a default program built into the VEX V5 Robot Brain so it can be used with Smart Motors, Sensors, and the VEX V5 Controller without programming. The Drive program maps the Controller's joysticks and buttons to control specific Smart Ports on the Brain. To begin, follow the steps below:

Brain powered on with the screen showing the Home menu.

Make sure the V5 Robot Brain is on and Controller Paired.

Have your V5 Robot Battery charged and connected to the V5 Robot Brain so you can power it on. For more information on Pairing the V5 Controller with the V5 Brain, check out this article from the VEX Library.

Step 1: Select the Drive Icon

Brain screen is shown in the Home menu with the Drive option highlighted.

Select the Drive icon by tapping on it to bring up the Drive screen.

Brain screen is shown in the Drive menu with the Wiring option highlighted.

Tap the Wiring icon to review port configurations to ensure everything is controlled correctly.

Brain screen is shown in the Wiring menu which has a list of default device connections that the Drive Program uses. There are three columns for each device, one lists the Smart Port, one lists the device type, and the last column lists the corresponding Controller button or axis. There are buttons numbered 1 to 5 on the right side that can be selected to show the other pages of the list.

Check that the devices on your build adhere to the Driver Program defaults. Failure to do this may result in multiple, unrelated motors being powered by the same Controller input. Note that not ALL devices have to be connected in order for this program to run. To view additional ports, select "2", "3", "4", or "5" on the right side of your brain as shown. Press the power button to go back to the previous step.

Step 2: Select the Run Icon

Brain screen is shown in the Drive menu with the Run option highlighted.

Tap the Run icon to start the program.

Brain screen is shown while it is running the Drive Program. The top of the screen shows a Stop button, a timer showing how long it has been running, and a Devices button. The lower part of the screen shows data options that read Program State, Game Control, Battery Level, Brain Current, and Game State.

You can tap Stop to stop the program, monitor the running time, or tap the Devices icon to see the connected ports and readings.

Controller Configurations

There are four different configurations of the Driver Control Program on the Brain: Left, Dual, Split, and Right. Follow the steps below to learn what each of the four configurations are and how to select them on the Brain.

Brain screen is shown in the Home menu with the Drive option highlighted.

Select the Drive icon by tapping on it to bring up the Drive Screen.

Brain screen is shown in the Drive menu with the Controls option highlighted.

Select the Controls icon by tapping on it to bring up the Controls Screen.

Each of the four driver control options allows you to control the robot using the joysticks in different ways.

Configuration Description	Joystick Controls
Left Drive the robot forward, reverse, left, and right all using the left joystick.
Dual Drive the left motor of the robot using the left joystick, and the right motor of the robot using the right joystick.
Split Drive the robot left and right using the right joystick, and forward and reverse using the left joystick.
Right Drive the robot forward, reverse, left, and right all using the right joystick.

Customizing Driver Control

Brain screen is shown in the Drive menu with the Motors option highlighted. Brain screen is shown in the Motor Direction menu which has a list of connected motors and their directions. Some of the motors have been selected and their direction has been changed from Normal to Reversed.

To further customize the Driver Control program you can select the Devices icon window to:

Change the direction of the motor movement for each set of buttons by reversing the direction from ‘Normal’ to ‘Reverse’, as shown in these images.

Change which buttons are used to control which motors:

Change which port the motor is physically plugged into on the Brain
Look at the Wiring window to check that your motor is connected to the desired buttons