Keyboard teleop package for mavs (micro-aerial-vehicles)

This package is a modification of the teleop_twist_keyboard package. The message type has been changed from Twist to TwistStamped and it is publishing to the: ‘/mavros/setpoint_velocity/cmd_vel’ topic. Since MAVs require a stream of messages with a given frequency, the default publishing rate is set to 10Hz.

1. Installing

sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-mav-teleop-twist-keyboard

2. Running

To start the mav_teleop_twist_keyboard package with the default parameters run:

rosrun mav_teleop_twist_keyboard mav_teleop_twist_keyboard.py

To start with custom values run:

rosrun mav_teleop_twist_keyboard mav_teleop_twist_keyboard.py _speed:=0.9 _turn:=0.8

To publish to a different topic (in this case my_cmd_vel) use:

rosrun mav_teleop_twist_keyboard mav_teleop_twist_keyboard.py cmd_vel:=my_cmd_vel

3. Usage

Reading from the keyboard  and Publishing to TwistStamped!

---------------------------
Throttle up/down (move up/down) and yaw left/right (rotate left/right):

   q    w    e
   a    s    d
   z    x    c

---------------------------
Pitch up/down(move forward/backward) roll left/right (slide left/right):

   u    i    o
   j    k    l
   m    ,    .


1 : arm and offboard
2: land

r/v : increase/decrease max speeds by 10%
t/b : increase/decrease only linear speed by 10%
y/n : increase/decrease only angular speed by 10%

CTRL-C to quit

Repeat Rate

The teleop_twist_keyboard package has the option to be configured to repeat the last command at a fixed interval, using the repeat_rate private parameter. Since MAVs require constant updates on the /mavros/setpoint_velocity/cmd_vel topic, in the mav_teleop_twist_keyboard package the default has been changed to repeat the last command at 10Hz.

This value can be adjusted for different rates, e.g. 30Hz:

rosrun mav_teleop_twist_keyboard mav_teleop_twist_keyboard.py _repeat_rate:=30.0

“It is highly recommended that the repeat rate be used in conjunction with the key timeout, to prevent runaway robots.” (source: teleop-twist-keyboard github page)

Key Timeout

“Teleop_twist_keyboard can be configured to stop your robot if it does not receive any key presses in a configured time period, using the key_timeout private parameter.

For example, to stop your robot if a keypress has not been received in 0.6 seconds:

rosrun teleop_twist_keyboard teleop_twist_keyboard.py _key_timeout:=0.6

It is recommended that you set key_timeout higher than the initial key repeat delay on your system (This delay is 0.5 seconds by default on Ubuntu, but can be adjusted).” (source: teleop-twist-keyboard github page)

Special thanks to the creators of teleop_twist_keyboard package. This package and Readme is based on the teleop_twist_keyboard package, with slight adjustments to suit controlling mavs. The code snippet used to set the mode of the uav to offboard, arm, and land was copied from https://edu.gaitech.hk/gapter/mavros-basics.html Special thanks to the authors of those tutorials as well!