🎮 [ROS 2] RQt Virtual Joystick — Smooth Robot Control Without Hardware

[Abdelrahman]

Hi everyone

I’m excited to share RQt Virtual Joystick — a lightweight RQt plugin for ROS 2 that turns your mouse and keyboard into a responsive joystick for robot teleoperation and simulation.

It’s built for smooth, continuous control — perfect for prototyping, testing, and sim environments when a physical joystick isn’t available.

Key Features

• Mouse & Keyboard Control — drag the on-screen joystick or use arrow keys

• Dual Publishing — sensor_msgs/Joy + geometry_msgs/Twist

• Holonomic Drive — strafe with Shift for omni robots

• Configurable — dead zones, response curves, publish rate, topics

• User-Friendly — auto-save settings, collapsible panels, live feedback

Learn more & download (post):
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/abdelrahman-mahmoud-9aa21812b_ros-ros2-rqt-activity-7379629000891125760-EXnm

Source code (GitHub):
https://github.com/amgaber95/rqt_virtual_joystick

Feedback and testing are very welcome! Tell me what features you’d like next — or how it performs with your setup.

ros2 rqt robotics teleoperation #OpenSource simulation

[Katherine_Scott]

@Abdelrahman keep in mind that not everyone here can visit LinkedIn’s walled garden.

The source code is available here.

[Abdelrahman]

@Katherine_Scott Thanks for the reminder, Katherine!
I’ve just added the direct GitHub link so everyone can access it easily.