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Turned out to be an embarassingly simple problem with joint names, but without gazebo running in verbose mode, there's no feedback.
I changed my launch file to include:
<include file="$(find gazebo_ros)/launch/empty_world.launch">
<arg name="verbose" value="true"/>
<!--arg name="debug" value="true"/-->
</include>
Which then gave me the more useful output:
[Err] [gazebo_ros_skid_steer_drive.cpp:273] EXCEPTION: GazeboRosSkidSteerDrive Plugin (ns = //) couldn't get left rear hinge joint named "back_left_wheel_joint"
[Err] [Model.cc:1010] Exception occured in the Load function of plugin with name[skid_steer_drive_controller] and filename[libgazebo_ros_skid_steer_drive.so]. This plugin will not run.
Although I guess this is a bug in Gazebo, it should fail to load the plugin, not crash out entirely.
This error wasn't caught with the diff_drive controller because I was using the front wheels joints. My back wheels were prefixed with rear
not back
hence the failure.