Deadbands come into play in a lot of different components that a FIRST robot may use. The Wikipedia link for deadband explains a lot.
Briefly, a deadband is an occurrence of no output when a specific input was applied. A deadband is sometimes built into a system by design, and sometimes it happens because of wear on parts.
A good example of an intentional deadband is in the thermostat of your house. The thermostat monitors the temperature of your house and is set to heat or cool at a certain threshold. Lets say that you set the thermostat for 68 degrees. The furnace may turn on when the house reaches 66 degrees and may turn off when it hits 70. This is fine for most people and prevents the furnace from running briefly when the temperature dips slightly below 68 and stops it immediately when it hits 68. This situation would be called an oscillation.
A mechanical deadband happens when a worn gear has a little bit of slop or play. As the input gear starts moving, the output gear does not move until the slop has been taken up. That portion of inactivity is the deadband in the gears.
Joysticks have a deadband region that requires the physical movement of the joystick to bypass a certain threshold before the actual output of the device changes.
Sensors may also have a deadband, where it may not read any change until a certain threshold is passed. This, like the thermostat, is by design, to prevent oscillation.
Keep this in mind while building and debugging your robot.
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