joystick control/navigation using python in ros

Question

I'm a beginner in ros. I want to get some data from joystick. I'm a python fan - don't much know the cpp.

I would like to connect my joystick in a usb port, and want to create a node(/package) that gives the datas from joystick ,so that I can directly use it to control my robot.

My Doubts

How I can link the joystick motion control into my robot? Is it any additional drivers/installation needed to sopport my joystick? Is it I can able to imperilment it using python? Is it any additional requirements/specifications needed for the joystick?

Answer 1

You should try to just use the existing joystick driver: http://www.ros.org/wiki/joy . If you really need a custom Joystick reader, the code in that package should give you a good idea of the proper way to output joystick data to your ROS system.