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Teleoperation

The Mobile Hoverboard Robot Base is teleoperated using an 8BitDo Lite 2 Bluetooth gamepad connected to the external Raspberry Pi. This enables the Wizard of Oz operation style used in HRI experiments.

8BitDo Lite 2 controller

8BitDo Lite 2 Bluetooth Controller

Part A: Connect the Controller via Bluetooth

  1. SSH into the controller RPi
  2. Install Bluetooth packages if not already present: 
    sudo apt install -y bluez blueman

  3. Open the Bluetooth manager (via VNC Viewer for GUI, or use bluetoothctl):

    bluetoothctl
    Then inside bluetoothctl: 
    power on
agent on
scan on
    Boot the 8BitDo into wireless pairing mode (hold the pairing button). When it appears in the scan list, pair and connect: 
    pair <MAC_ADDRESS>
connect <MAC_ADDRESS>
trust <MAC_ADDRESS>

    Open Blueman from the desktop, search for the controller, and connect.

    Blueman manager

  4. The controller LED turns blue when connected.

Connect by MAC Address

Once you've paired the controller once, you can reconnect directly:

bluetoothctl
connect <MAC_ADDRESS>

The MAC address of your 8BitDo controller can be found during the scan on step — it will appear as 8BitDo Lite 2 in the device list.

Part B: Read Joystick Messages

Verify the controller is publishing to ROS 2:

ros2 run joy joy_node
ros2 topic echo /joy

Expected output: 

header:
  frame_id: joy
axes:
- -0.0   # Left stick X
- -0.0   # Left stick Y
- 1.0    # Left trigger
- -0.0   # Right stick X
- -0.0   # Right stick Y
- 1.0    # Right trigger
- 0.0    # D-pad X
- 0.0    # D-pad Y
buttons:
- 0
- 0
- 0
...

All axes are continuous floats (−1.0 to 1.0). All buttons are binary integers (0 or 1).

Part C: Haptic Feedback (Rumble)

Test that the rumble motor works — useful for signaling states during experiments:

ros2 topic pub -r 10 /joy/set_feedback sensor_msgs/msg/JoyFeedback \
  "{type: 1, id: 0, intensity: 0.9}"

JoyFeedback message types:

Value Type
0 LED
1 Rumble
2 Buzzer

Part D: Button Mapping

The key mapping node (keymapping_node.py) translates joystick axes to /cmd_vel (linear + angular velocity).

Safety button

L1 must be held to enable driving. This prevents unintentional movement.

Launch the mapping:

cd ~/mobilehri_ws
colcon build && source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch joy_teleop_keymapping mapping_launch.py

Monitor the output: 

ros2 topic echo /cmd_vel

Feel free to customize the button mapping in keymapping_node.py — the 8BitDo has many buttons, triggers, and axes to work with.

Part E: Drive with the Hoverboard

Once both the mapping node and the mobile base controller are running (see Running the Robot):

ros2 launch mobile_robot_control mobile_robot_launch.py

Hold L1 and use the left stick to drive. Place the trash bin on top and start your HRI experiment!

Safety

Warning

  • Always hold L1 as a deadman switch — releasing it stops the robot.
  • Do not leave the hoverboard battery plugged into the ODrive when the robot is unattended.
  • The hoverboard chassis is conductive — keep it clear of loose electronics.