Running RTAB Map breaks my TF Tree

[vignesh-anand]

I am running rtab map on my create 3 with a jetson orin nano host computer with jetpack6 and ros humble. Without rtabmap running I have the following TF tree frames_2024-12-11_18.31.10.pdf

When I run rtab map in localization mode with the following launch file

from launch import LaunchDescription
from launch.actions import GroupAction
from launch_ros.actions import Node, PushRosNamespace
from launch.substitutions import PathJoinSubstitution
from launch_ros.substitutions import FindPackageShare
import os

def generate_launch_description():
    return LaunchDescription([
        GroupAction(
            actions=[
                PushRosNamespace('rtabmap'),
                Node(
                    package='rtabmap_slam',
                    executable='rtabmap',
                    name='rtabmap',
                    output='screen',
                    prefix=['taskset -c 0-2'],  # Restrict to 3 cores
                    parameters=[{
                        'frame_id': 'base_link',
                        
                        # Localization mode parameters
                        'Mem/IncrementalMemory': "False",
                        'Mem/InitWMWithAllNodes': "True",
                        
                        # Database path
                        'database_path': os.path.expanduser('~/.ros/rtabmap.db'),
                        
                        # TF parameters
                        'publish_tf_map': True,
                        'odom_frame_id': 'odom',
                        'map_frame_id': 'map',
                        'tf_delay': 0.5,
                        'map_always_update': True,
                        
                        # Subscription settings
                        'subscribe_depth': False,
                        'subscribe_rgb': False,
                        'subscribe_rgbd': True,
                        'subscribe_scan': True,
                        
                        # Queue sizes
                        'sync_queue_size': 80,
                        'topic_queue_size': 100,
                        
                        # Parallel processing parameters
                        'RGBD/NeighborLinkRefining': "True",
                        'RGBD/ProximityBySpace': "True",
                        'RGBD/AsyncBundleAdjustment': True,
                        'Optimizer/Slam2D': True,
                        'Optimizer/ThreadsCount': 2,
                        'Vis/FeatureThreadsCount': "2",
                        'Vis/EstimationType': "1",
                        'Vis/CorNNThreads': "2",
                        
                        # Movement thresholds
                        'RGBD/LinearUpdate': "0.10",
                        'RGBD/AngularUpdate': "0.087",
                        'RGBD/DetectionRate': 1.5,
                        
                        # CPU optimizations
                        'RGBD/OptimizeFromGraphEnd': "False",
                        'Grid/Sensor': 'scan',
                        'Reg/Force3DoF': "True",
                        'Reg/Strategy': "2",
                        
                        # Point cloud processing
                        'Icp/VoxelSize': "0.15",
                        'Icp/MaxCorrespondenceDistance': "0.2",
                        'Icp/ThreadsCount': 2,
                        
                        # Memory and feature parameters
                        'RGBD/MaxLocalFeatures': 600,
                        'Mem/STMSize': "12",
                        'Mem/BadSignaturesIgnored': "False",
                        
                        # Feature parameters
                        'RGBD/MaxFeatures': 600,
                        'Vis/MinInliers': "10",
                        'Optimizer/Iterations': "10",
                        
                        # Additional parallel processing
                        'RGBD/PoseScanMatching': True,
                        
                        # Added parameters
                        'RGBD/StartAtDock': False,
                        'init_pose_x': 0.0,
                        'init_pose_y': 0.0,
                        'init_pose_z': 0.0,
                        'init_pose_yaw': 0.0,
                    }],
                    remappings=[
                        ('odom', '/odom'),
                        ('scan', '/scan'),
                        ('rgbd_image', '/rgbd_image'),
                        ('tf', '/tf'),
                        ('tf_static', '/tf_static'),
                    ]
                ),
            ]
        ),
        
        # Startup node
        Node(
            package='rtab_nav',
            executable='rtab_startup.py',
            name='rtab_startup',
            output='screen'
        )
    ])

The TF tree breaks and I get 

frames_2024-12-11_18.30.41.pdf

Would appreciate some help on what I am doing wrong, tried everything else

[vignesh-anand]

I also notice that the rtab map node does not subscribe to odometry despite it existing and it being published

[matlabbe]

The missing link between odom and base_link is not published by rtabmap but by probably your create3 driver. You can double check why odom->base_link is not published anymore.

For rtabmap config, if you set explicitly 'odom_frame_id': 'odom', rtabmap won't subscribe to odom topic, but just get it from TF and use odom_tf_linear_variance/odom_tf_angular_variance parameters to set the odometry covariance matrix. Remove odom_frame_id and it will subscribe to odom topic (and use covariance form that topic).