map not being published

[pranathinvs]

Hey guys!
I created a robot using urdf files. My robot is a four wheeled robot with a kinect sensor linked to it.
I am trying rtabmapping and I see no data being published in /map topic.

Here's my robot_launch file:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!-- Launch FILE FOR THE GAZEBO SIMULATIOR OF THE 4-WHEELED ROBOT -->
<launch>
  <!--node name="spawn_urdf" pkg="gazebo_ros" type="spawn_model" args="-param robot_description -urdf -model my_robot -x 0 -y 0 -z 0.1" /-->

  <include file="$(find gazebo_ros)/launch/empty_world.launch">
    <arg name="world_name" value="$(find robot_model_pkg)/worlds/cafe.world"/>
    <arg name="paused" value="false"/>
    <arg name="use_sim_time" value="true"/>
    <arg name="gui" value="true"/>
    <arg name="headless" value="false"/>
    <arg name="debug" value="false"/>
    <!--arg name="rtabmap_viz" default="true"/-->
  </include>

<!-- Load the robot description -->
  <param name="robot_description" command="$(find xacro)/xacro '$(find robot_model_pkg)/urdf/robot.xacro'"/>
  <param name="use_sim_time" value="true" />
  <param name="Odom/MinInliers" value="10"/>
  <param name="publish_map"         type="bool"   value="true"/>
  <param name="map_topic"           type="string" value="/map"/>
  <node pkg="tf" type="static_transform_publisher" name="odom_to_base" args="0 0 0 0 0 0 odom base_link 100" />
  <node pkg="tf2_ros" type="static_transform_publisher" name="kinect_to_base" args="0.5 0 0.1 0 0 0 base_link kinect_link" />


<!-- Robot state publisher node -->
  <node name="robot_state_publisher" pkg="robot_state_publisher" type="robot_state_publisher" />
  <node name="joint_state_publisher" pkg="joint_state_publisher" type="joint_state_publisher"/>
<!-- Spawn the model -->
  <node name="urdf_spawner" pkg="gazebo_ros" type="spawn_model" respawn="false" output="screen" args="-urdf -model robot_model -param robot_description -x 0 -y 0 -z 0.1" />

</launch>

and below is my rtabmap launch file. Am I missing something? Apart from this can somebody give me a checklist on what should be done for the map topic to be published.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!-- Launch FILE FOR THE GAZEBO SIMULATIOR OF THE 4-WHEELED ROBOT -->
    <launch>
          

    <node pkg="nodelet" type="nodelet" name="rgbd_sync" args="standalone rtabmap_sync/rgbd_sync" output="screen">
      <remap from="rgb/image"        to="/camera/rgb/image_rect_color"/>
      <remap from="depth/image"      to="/camera/depth_registered/image_raw"/>
      <remap from="rgb/camera_info"  to="/camera/rgb/camera_info"/>
      <remap from="rgbd_image"       to="rgbd_image"/> <!-- output -->
      
      <!-- Should be true for not synchronized camera topics 
           (e.g., false for kinectv2, zed, realsense, true for xtion, kinect360)-->
      <param name="approx_sync"       value="true"/> 
    </node>

    <!-- Odometry -->
    <node pkg="rtabmap_odom" type="rgbd_odometry" name="rgbd_odometry" output="screen">
      <param name="subscribe_rgbd" type="bool"   value="true"/>
      <param name="frame_id"       type="string" value="base_link"/>
      <remap from="rgbd_image" to="rgbd_image"/>
    </node>

    <node name="rtabmap" pkg="rtabmap_slam" type="rtabmap" output="screen" args="--delete_db_on_start">
          <param name="frame_id"        type="string" value="base_link"/>
          <param name="wait_for_transform" type="bool" value="true"/>
          <param name="wait_for_transform_duration" type="double" value="0.2"/>
          <param name="odom_frame_id" type="string" value="odom"/>

          <param name="subscribe_depth" type="bool"   value="false"/>
          <param name="subscribe_rgbd"  type="bool"   value="true"/>

          <param name="publish_map"         type="bool"   value="true"/>
          <param name="map_topic"           type="string" value="/map"/>

          <param name="grid_map"            type="bool"   value="true"/>
          <param name="publish_map_2d"      type="bool"   value="true"/>

          <remap from="odom"       to="/odom"/>
          <remap from="rgbd_image" to="rgbd_image"/>

          <param name="queue_size"  type="int"  value="10"/>
          <param name="approx_sync" type="bool" value="false"/>

          <param name="Grid/FromDepth" type="string" value="true"/>
          <param name="Grid/RangeMax" type="string" value="5.0"/>

          <!-- RTAB-Map's parameters -->
          <param name="RGBD/AngularUpdate"        type="string" value="0.01"/>
          <param name="RGBD/LinearUpdate"         type="string" value="0.01"/><nabble_a href="rtab_my_robot.launch">rtab_my_robot.launch</nabble_a><nabble_a href="robot_xacro.launch">robot_xacro.launch</nabble_a>
          <param name="RGBD/OptimizeFromGraphEnd" type="string" value="false"/>
          
          <remap from="grid_map" to="/map"/>

    </node>

    </launch>

Can you please help me with this

[matlabbe]

Hi,

What are the warnings/errors you see?

By the way, this should not exist:

<node pkg="tf" type="static_transform_publisher" name="odom_to_base" args="0 0 0 0 0 0 odom base_link 100" />

Note also that if you are trying rgbd_odometry in simulation, make sure there is enough visual texture in your environment, otherwise it will just get lost. You may instead use a wheel odometry plugin in gazebo to provide odometry topic.

cheers,
Mathieu

[pranathinvs]

Hi Mathieu,
I removed the line you mentioned and made some changes in the plugin and now I see the robot working as expected. Thank you so much for your response.

Regrards,
Pranathi.