Joey: Customizable ROS Joystick Driver for Differential-Drive Robots

Joey is a highly-customizable ROS joystick driver designed for differential-drive robots. Users are able to customize axis and buttons for linear/angular velocity, linear/angular boost(acceleration) and safety(shutdown) mode.

Install

Dependencies

Joey depends on ROS default joystick driver, you can install it via sudo apt install ros-<distr>-joy.

Clone and compile

cd <ros_workspace>/src
git clone https://github.com/MuchenSun/Joey.git
cd ..
catkin build

Usage

The Joey_node ROS node will subscribe to a joystick topic (with sensor_msgs::Joy message) from the joy_node node in the joy package (installation step above), and publish a velocity command in the format of geometry_msgs::Twist on the specified topic.

There are two example launch files named "sony_dualshock3.launch" and "logitech_f310.launch" specified for two common joystick models. They are a good start for customizing your own joystick driver.

Parameters

• joy_topic: Joystick topic to subscribe to.
• cmd_topic: Control topic to publish to.
• max_lin_vel: Maximum linear velocity allowed.
• max_ang_vel: Maximum angular velocity allowed.
• lin_boost_ratio: When not boosted, the maximum achievable linear velocity would be (max_lin_vel)x(lin_boost_ratio), the true maximum velocity could only be achieved with full boost.
• ang_boost_ratio: When not boosted, the maximum achievable angular velocity would be (max_ang_vel)x(ang_boost_ratio), the true maximum velocity could only be achieved with full boost.
• fractional_boost: Whether the joystick supports (for example, whether the L1/2 and R1/2 buttons support fractional input).
• lin_vel_axis: Joystick axis for linear velocity control.
• lin_boost_axis: Joystick axis for linear boost control.
• ang_vel_axis: Joystick axis for angular velocity control.
• ang_boost_axis: Joystick axis for angular boost control.
• shutdown_axis: Joystick axis for enabling "shutdown" mode, in which all other inputs will be ignored and the driver will publish zero-velocity command.
• recover_axis: Joystick axis for recovering from "shutdown" mode.

License

This project is licensed under GPLv3. For any question, feel free to contact Muchen Sun (sunmch15@gmail.com).