This guide explains how to manually control (teleoperate) the WAM-V using a gamepad.

We first start the simulation with the command:

ros2 launch vrx_gz competition.launch.py world:=sydney_regatta

This launches an environment with a WAM-V, two articulated aft thrusters, controlled by the following ROS 2 topics:

/wamv/thrusters/left/pos
/wamv/thrusters/left/thrust
/wamv/thrusters/right/pos
/wamv/thrusters/right/thrust

Note: some customization is required to support teleoperation of other thruster configurations.

Install the following dependencies:

sudo apt install ros-humble-joy-teleop

To enable teleoperation using a gamepad, run:

ros2 launch vrx_gz usv_joy_teleop.py

The gamepad drives the left and right thrusters directly - similar to a differential drive wheeled robot.

• The L1 button needs to be pressed all the time in addition to the following commands (dead man's switch),
• the left stick up/down axis (axis 1) is mapped to the left thruster forward/reverse,
• the right stick up/down axis (axis 3) is mapped to the right thruster forward/reverse,
• the left stick left/right axis (axis 2) is mapped to rotating the left thruster clockwise/counter-clockwise,
• the right stick left/right axis (axis 4) is mapped to rotating the right thruster clockwise/counter-clockwise.

Therefore, pushing both sticks forward should cause the WAM-V to drive forward.

You can activate the ball shooter with the A button.

If you are using the default configuration:

• Make sure the Mode light is unlit.
• The switch on the bottom of the controller must be set to "D", not "X".