Coordinate transforms and reference frames of a mobile robot
I'm developing a vehicle that's fitted with a GPS, IMU and a lidar that will be able to make a map and localise itself in it. To do so various coordinate transforms need to take place, for instance a fixed 'map' frame where the map would be created, a body fixed frame (base_link) for the chassis of the vehicle and then various transforms from the body fixed frame for the IMU/GPS/Lidar to assist in the building of the point cloud map.
My question is, what tf or tf2 tool would I use where?
Are static transforms used for rigid links? For example the IMU/lidar to the base_link (vehicle) etc.
Are the broadcaster/listener combinations used for transforms that vary? For example from the map (world) frame to the base_link.
Thanks for any help, just getting alittle lost with the terminology.
Have you seen the URDF tutorials, especially the Create your own URDF file and the ...
robot_state publisher tutorial?
From what I've read it seemed like the URDF approach was more aligned with manipulator arms and visualizing them etc. Whereas our system should be quite straightforward in that regard
I would also suggest looking into URDF and xacro's for the model/TFs of your robot description. I guess you can technically describe your robots TFs with static transforms, but I see no real advantage to this approach in the long run.