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Should the origin of base_link and odom be the same?

melodic

asked 2020-10-29 13:49:08 -0500

pitosalas
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There are many variants of this question and I probably have not stated it precisely. But I am tidying up my Urdf. What is the common sense or conventional way? Should my base_link correspond to the "center" of the robot as a whole (I know this is subjective). Or should it be on the floor/surface? Because publish the transform between odom and my robot, should the transform have the same x and y, but a few centimeters above the floor?

I know "it depends" and there are many ways of doing this. But what's the least surprising way?

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answered 2020-10-29 15:40:13 -0500

chives_onion
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There are ROS Enhancement Proposals (REPs) that can be thought of as standards.Check out REP 105 for a description of platform coordinate frames and REP 103 for axis standards. Your base_link should be fixed to your robot, whereas odom is 'fixed' to a point in the real world. As your robot moves, the transformation between the two should change: this is how you determine your position.

I've also seen base_footprint used, but it's a matter of application and preference.

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Asked: 2020-10-29 13:49:08 -0500

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Last updated: Oct 29 '20

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Should the origin of base_link and odom be the same?