joy_twist

A ROS node that converts sensor_msgs/Joy messages into geometry_msgs/Twist commands — designed for ROV / ground robot teleoperation via joystick.

How It Works

The node subscribes to /joy and re-maps joystick axes and buttons to a Twist message, which is published on /cmd_vel. A deadman switch (button 0) must be released for movement commands to pass through.

Axis / Button Mapping

Input	Twist field	Description
axes[2]	linear.x	Thrust (forward/back)
axes[0]	linear.y	Lateral
axes[1]	linear.z	Heave (up/down)
axes[3]	angular.z	Yaw
buttons[3]	angular.y = +0.5	Roll positive
buttons[4]	angular.y = −0.5	Roll negative
buttons[0]	deadman (active LOW)	Block all output when pressed

Topics

Topic	Type	Direction
/joy	sensor_msgs/Joy	Subscribed
/cmd_vel	geometry_msgs/Twist	Published

Dependencies

• ROS (Kinetic / Melodic)
• joy — joystick driver package
• roscpp, geometry_msgs, sensor_msgs

Build & Install

# Clone into your catkin workspace
cd ~/catkin_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/JuliusPinsker/joy_twist.git

# Build
cd ~/catkin_ws
catkin_make
source devel/setup.bash

Usage

Launch both the joystick driver and the joy_twist node together:

roslaunch joy_twist joy_twist.launch

Or run the node directly:

rosrun joy_twist joy_twist_node

Make sure your joystick device is accessible (default: /dev/input/js0). You can set the device path via the joy_node parameter dev if needed.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.