Joystick control problem

[Mark-Teeratorn]

Cytron MDD3A motor driver is intermittently failing to respond when controlled by the ESP32 running (MDD3A blink for a second and it suddenly stopped) but pressing the test button brings it back to life.

How should I troubleshoot this problem

ros2 launch minibot robot.launch.py
[INFO] [launch]: All log files can be found below /home/rare/.ros/log/2025-03-26-02-01-56-251460-wartier-52735
[INFO] [launch]: Default logging verbosity is set to INFO
[INFO] [robot_state_publisher-1]: process started with pid [52739]
[INFO] [twist_mux-2]: process started with pid [52740]
[INFO] [twist_stamper-3]: process started with pid [52741]
[INFO] [republish-4]: process started with pid [52742]
[INFO] [republish-5]: process started with pid [52743]
[INFO] [republish-6]: process started with pid [52744]
[INFO] [republish-7]: process started with pid [52745]
[INFO] [sllidar_node-8]: process started with pid [52746]
[INFO] [ros2_control_node-9]: process started with pid [52768]
[INFO] [spawner-10]: process started with pid [52814]
[INFO] [spawner-11]: process started with pid [52820]
[sllidar_node-8] [INFO] [1742929316.896989501] [sllidar_node]: SLLidar running on ROS2 package SLLidar.ROS2 SDK Version:1.0.1, SLLIDAR SDK Version:2.1.0
[twist_mux-2] [INFO] [1742929316.902709128] [twist_mux]: Topic handler 'topics.joystick' subscribed to topic 'joy_vel': timeout = 0.500000s , priority = 100.
[sllidar_node-8] [INFO] [1742929316.905058617] [sllidar_node]: SLLidar S/N: DEBC9A87C5E392D5A5E492F84E69316B
[sllidar_node-8] [INFO] [1742929316.905110010] [sllidar_node]: Firmware Ver: 1.27
[sllidar_node-8] [INFO] [1742929316.905126823] [sllidar_node]: Hardware Rev: 6
[sllidar_node-8] [INFO] [1742929316.906019409] [sllidar_node]: SLLidar health status : 0
[sllidar_node-8] [INFO] [1742929316.906048456] [sllidar_node]: SLLidar health status : OK.
[twist_mux-2] [INFO] [1742929316.918440537] [twist_mux]: Topic handler 'topics.navigation' subscribed to topic 'nav_vel': timeout = 0.500000s , priority = 10.
[republish-4] [INFO] [1742929316.929467620] [image_transport_republish_compressed_image_raw]: The 'in_transport' parameter is set to: raw
[republish-4] [INFO] [1742929316.932440908] [image_transport_republish_compressed_image_raw]: The 'out_transport' parameter is set to: 
[republish-7] [INFO] [1742929316.938590121] [image_transport_republish_zstd_image_raw]: The 'in_transport' parameter is set to: raw
[republish-7] [INFO] [1742929316.938948249] [image_transport_republish_zstd_image_raw]: The 'out_transport' parameter is set to: 
[republish-6] [INFO] [1742929316.949799416] [image_transport_republish_theora_image_raw]: The 'in_transport' parameter is set to: raw
[republish-6] [INFO] [1742929316.949956639] [image_transport_republish_theora_image_raw]: The 'out_transport' parameter is set to: 
[robot_state_publisher-1] [INFO] [1742929316.956100021] [robot_state_publisher]: Robot initialized
[republish-5] [INFO] [1742929316.988514675] [image_transport_republish_compressedDepth_image_raw]: The 'in_transport' parameter is set to: raw
[republish-5] [INFO] [1742929316.988729136] [image_transport_republish_compressedDepth_image_raw]: The 'out_transport' parameter is set to: 
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.051071714] [controller_manager]: Subscribing to '/robot_description' topic for robot description.
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.102011090] [controller_manager]: update rate is 30 Hz
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.102067873] [controller_manager]: Spawning controller_manager RT thread with scheduler priority: 50
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.102511743] [controller_manager]: Successful set up FIFO RT scheduling policy with priority 50.
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.103122092] [controller_manager]: Received robot description from topic.
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.113512509] [controller_manager.resource_manager]: Loading hardware 'RobotSystem' 
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.121330659] [controller_manager.resource_manager]: Loaded hardware 'RobotSystem' from plugin 'diffdrive_arduino/DiffDriveArduinoHardware'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.121491384] [controller_manager.resource_manager]: Initialize hardware 'RobotSystem' 
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.122013638] [DiffDriveArduinoHardware]: PID values not supplied, using defaults.
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.122052957] [controller_manager.resource_manager]: Successful initialization of hardware 'RobotSystem'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.122800756] [resource_manager]: 'configure' hardware 'RobotSystem' 
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.122817309] [DiffDriveArduinoHardware]: Configuring ...please wait...
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.123205614] [DiffDriveArduinoHardware]: Successfully configured!
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.123218555] [resource_manager]: Successful 'configure' of hardware 'RobotSystem'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.123248720] [resource_manager]: 'activate' hardware 'RobotSystem' 
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.123294391] [DiffDriveArduinoHardware]: Activating ...please wait...
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.123305101] [DiffDriveArduinoHardware]: Successfully activated!
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.123436480] [resource_manager]: Successful 'activate' of hardware 'RobotSystem'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.123455781] [controller_manager]: Resource Manager has been successfully initialized. Starting Controller Manager services...
[sllidar_node-8] [INFO] [1742929317.127307025] [sllidar_node]: current scan mode: Sensitivity, sample rate: 16 Khz, max_distance: 25.0 m, scan frequency:10.0 Hz, 
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.210798356] [controller_manager]: Loading controller : 'joint_state_broadcaster' of type 'joint_state_broadcaster/JointStateBroadcaster'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.210843616] [controller_manager]: Loading controller 'joint_state_broadcaster'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.214138914] [controller_manager]: Controller 'joint_state_broadcaster' node arguments: --ros-args --params-file /tmp/launch_params_9km5a6x_ --params-file /home/rare/test_ws/install/minibot/share/minibot/config/controller.yaml 
[spawner-10] [INFO] [1742929317.313837753] [spawner_joint_state_broadcaster]: Loaded joint_state_broadcaster
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.315406412] [controller_manager]: Configuring controller: 'joint_state_broadcaster'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.315548838] [joint_state_broadcaster]: 'joints' or 'interfaces' parameter is empty. All available state interfaces will be published
[spawner-11] [INFO] [1742929317.327238792] [spawner_diff_drive_controller]: Setting controller param "params_file" to "['/home/rare/test_ws/install/minibot/share/minibot/config/controller.yaml']" for diff_drive_controller
[spawner-11] [INFO] [1742929317.339502878] [spawner_diff_drive_controller]: Setting controller param "type" to "diff_drive_controller/DiffDriveController" for diff_drive_controller
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.453870090] [controller_manager]: Loading controller : 'diff_drive_controller' of type 'diff_drive_controller/DiffDriveController'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.453908883] [controller_manager]: Loading controller 'diff_drive_controller'
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.457191294] [controller_manager]: Controller 'diff_drive_controller' node arguments: --ros-args --params-file /tmp/launch_params_9km5a6x_ --params-file /home/rare/test_ws/install/minibot/share/minibot/config/controller.yaml --params-file /home/rare/test_ws/install/minibot/share/minibot/config/controller.yaml 
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.504236494] [controller_manager]: Activating controllers: [ joint_state_broadcaster ]
[spawner-11] [INFO] [1742929317.505549004] [spawner_diff_drive_controller]: Loaded diff_drive_controller
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.570828500] [controller_manager]: Configuring controller: 'diff_drive_controller'
[ros2_control_node-9] [WARN] [1742929317.570941111] [diff_drive_controller]: [deprecated] has_jerk_limits parameter is deprecated, instead set the respective limits to NAN
[ros2_control_node-9] [WARN] [1742929317.570961097] [diff_drive_controller]: [deprecated] has_jerk_limits parameter is deprecated, instead set the respective limits to NAN
[spawner-10] [INFO] [1742929317.572415551] [spawner_joint_state_broadcaster]: Configured and activated joint_state_broadcaster
[ros2_control_node-9] [WARN] [1742929317.604282968] [diff_drive_controller]: Can't accept new commands. subscriber is inactive
[ros2_control_node-9] [INFO] [1742929317.607367413] [controller_manager]: Activating controllers: [ diff_drive_controller ]
[ros2_control_node-9] [WARN] [1742929317.654841033] [diff_drive_controller]: Received TwistStamped with zero timestamp, setting it to current time, this message will only be shown once
[spawner-11] [INFO] [1742929317.672942709] [spawner_diff_drive_controller]: Configured and activated diff_drive_controller
[INFO] [spawner-10]: process has finished cleanly [pid 52814]
[INFO] [spawner-11]: process has finished cleanly [pid 52820]

ros2 launch minibot joystick_teleop.launch.py
[INFO] [launch]: All log files can be found below /home/rare/.ros/log/2025-03-26-02-26-35-672351-wartier-53753
[INFO] [launch]: Default logging verbosity is set to INFO
[INFO] [joy_node-1]: process started with pid [53756]
[INFO] [teleop_node-2]: process started with pid [53757]
[teleop_node-2] [INFO] [1742930795.791399888] [TeleopTwistJoy]: Teleop enable button 0.
[teleop_node-2] [INFO] [1742930795.791442470] [TeleopTwistJoy]: Turbo on button 1.
[teleop_node-2] [INFO] [1742930795.791447392] [TeleopTwistJoy]: Teleop enable inverted reverse.
[teleop_node-2] [INFO] [1742930795.791450804] [TeleopTwistJoy]: Linear axis x on 1 at scale -0.500000.
[teleop_node-2] [INFO] [1742930795.791457780] [TeleopTwistJoy]: Turbo for linear axis x is scale -1.000000.
[teleop_node-2] [INFO] [1742930795.791462107] [TeleopTwistJoy]: Angular axis yaw on 0 at scale 0.500000.
[teleop_node-2] [INFO] [1742930795.791465854] [TeleopTwistJoy]: Turbo for angular axis yaw is scale 1.000000.
[joy_node-1] [INFO] [1742930796.464434013] [joy_node]: No haptic (rumble) available, skipping initialization
[joy_node-1] [INFO] [1742930796.464615849] [joy_node]: Opened joystick: Logitech Dual Action.  deadzone: 0.050000

[YJ0528]

Here's some suggestion to narrow down the possible cause(s) of the issue.

1. Check if your velocity is published consistently in ROS2, it should be published in topic /diff_drive_controller/cmd_vel.
2. Check if the electronics is functioning properly: Flash your code to ESP32 and test it via miniterm with the serial port connected your computer.
3. Make sure the voltage and current is within range (4v-16v and <3amp).
4. Check if the issues is related to your motor: you can check it by running the electronics without connecting the power supply between the motor and the motor driver.
5. Make sure you have stable internet connection.