Hi!
This post will be about the proposal of a Contact.msg for the sensor_msgs package.
If you have any ideas for changes or usage, please share it in this post and send PR to my message-only package contact_msgs.
Motivation
I could not find simple message that defines whether there is contact between some defined sensor and other undefined object/objects. Messages like /ros_gz_interfaces/msg/Contact.msg are too complicated and simulator specific for simple contact detection. For contact sensor with force and torque readings geometry_msgs/WrenchStamped.msg would be enough.
Design / Implementation Considerations
# This is a message to hold data from simple contact
std_msgs/Header header # timestamp is the time the contact was measured
# frame_id is the location of the contact sensor
bool contact # True if there is contact
Additional Information
I believe that this message could be used for creating future hardware interfaces and broadcasters for ros2_control framework. It also would be helpful for fields where contact sensors are widely used, such as legged robotics.
Links
Contact message repository
common_interfaces issue related to message
common_interfaces PR related to message
Old issue related to message