Author: Kevin Walchko

License: BSD

Language: C++

Website: http://github.com/walchko/osx_joystick

The standard Linux PS3 joystick drivers do not work on OSX. This package leverages GLFW to read joysticks under OS X. I currently have only tested it with the PS3 DualShock3 controller.

To my knowledge, there is no way to use GLFW to read the gyros and accelerometers in the controller. However, I will keep looking. Also, this doesn't seem to work with Nintendo's Wiimote either.

Follow the instructions to setup rosdep correctly. If you don't want to do that, then uncomment rosdep glfw in manifest.xml. Then just add the homebrew library as normal.

The required Homebrew formula for OSX can be installed using:

brew update
brew install glfw

These instructions are a modification of those found at here

1. Turn Bluetooth ON and press the PS button. A window will pop up asking for a PIN, ignore it and open the bluetooth preferences. Write down the Bluetooth address, mine is: e0-ae-5e-0e-1c-eb.
2. Turn Bluetooth OFF and copy the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist to somewhere else (e.g. your $HOME)
3. Open the plist with XCode and add your controller's address to the HIDDevices key (press the little plus). So I now have Item 0 String with an address that was already there and a new Item 1 String with my controller's address e0-ae-5e-0e-1c-eb (all lower case).
4. Now copy the file back to /Library/Preferences and make sure it's owned by root, group wheel (you can do this using chown root:wheel com.apple.Bluetooth.plist)
5. Switch on Bluetooth, and press the PS button on the controller - it should now pair without asking for a PIN

Now if you don't have XCode installed for some strange reason or need to do this all on the command line, substitute these for the appropriate steps (Note I have not checked to see if these work):

• Convert it to XML format using: plutil -convert xml1 com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
• Open the file with your favorite text editor like pico, and edit as above.
• Convert it back to binary Plist format using: plutil -convert binary1 com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

rosrun osx_joystick joystick --num --hz --help

• help Prints the help message
• num The number of the joystick to connect too
• hz The refresh rate to poll the joystick at (default: 30 Hz)

rosrun osx_joystick joystick --num 3 --hz 50

This grabs the 4th joystick (remember n-1) and the node sends joy messages at 50 Hz on the topic joy3.

joy[0-15]:

The node publishes a standard joystick message

Note: The signs of the 0 and 2 axes are backwards, meaning positive is really negative for those two axes.

The twist joystick is just a simple node that directly produces twist messages to make it easier to drive a robot (i.e., teleop) with little effort. The left axes (0 and 1) send the linear part of the message. The right axes (2 and 3) handle the twist (i.e., heading) of the robot. The buttons do nothing. For a more involved controller, you should write your own robot specific node.

rosrun osx_joystick twist_js --num --hz --help

• help Prints the help message
• num The number of the joystick to connect too
• hz The refresh rate to poll the joystick at (default: 30 Hz)

rosrun osx_joystick twist_js --num 3 --hz 50

This grabs the 4th joystick (remember n-1) and the node sends twist messages at 50 Hz on the topic cmd3.

cmd[0-15]:

The node publishes a standard twist message