Proposal: Add joy_event_publisher node for semantic button event detection (single press/double press/long hold)

[airfield20]

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to submit a proposal like this and I'm not used to contributing to open source so please let me know.

Summary:

Add a node that users have the option of adding into their joystick control pipeline that automatically debounces buttons (based on a set of defined timing parameters) and detects specific types of input (double presses, long holds, release after held). Semantic events will all be published as a Joy_event message.

Motivation:

Usually this logic is either written over and over again in each individual node that interacts with the joystick or users are writing a joystick message parser that triggers other nodes using messages, services, or actions. Writing the same logic over and over is unnecessary repeat work and expensive to maintain. A centralized joystick message parser would make it easier to release open source ROS nodes that depend on joystick input.

Design:

Package Layout:

joystick_drivers/
├── joy/
│   ├── src/joy_node.cpp
│   └── ... existing joy node
├── joy_event_publisher/
│   ├── joy_event_publisher_node.cpp
│   └── other_source_files.cpp

ROS Params:

• joy message input topic
• debounce filter time
• double/triple press time limit
• long hold time
• publish on event on rising edge or falling edge
• treat axis as buttons

I volunteer to write and maintain this node. Any feedback would be appreciated.