nav2 goal sending wont work (odom not publishing data)

[jovytta]

Robot Model

Turtlebot4 Standard

ROS distro

Jazzy

Networking Configuration

Simple Discovery

OS

Ubuntu 24.04

Built from source or installed?

Installed

Package version

2.1.1-1noble.20251009.004612

Type of issue

Navigation (SLAM, Nav2 etc.)

Expected behaviour

After launching localization, everything works fine

Actual behaviour

nav2 dont work and wont even localize.

Error messages

basically all were related to odom
1. [controller_server-1] [INFO] [1762834359.012143433] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Timed out waiting for transform from base_link to odom to become available, tf error: Could not find a connection between 'odom' and 'base_link' because they are not part of the same tree.Tf has two or more unconnected trees. 
2. [rviz2-1] [INFO] [1762833745.954172888] [rviz2]: Message Filter dropping message: frame 'odom' at time 1762833692.689 for reason 'discarding message because the queue is full'
3. [controller_server-1] [INFO] [1763029695.271389379] [turtle.local_costmap.local_costmap]: Timed out waiting for transform from base_link to odom to become available, tf error: Invalid frame ID "odom" passed to canTransform argument target_frame - frame does not exist
[controller_server-1] [ERROR] [1763029695.271498071] [turtle.local_costmap.local_costmap]: Failed to activate local_costmap because transform from base_link to odom did not become available before timeout

To Reproduce

frames_2025-11-11_09.34.40.pdf
This is my tree.

https://turtlebot.github.io/turtlebot4-user-manual/tutorials/navigation.html
follow this.
also when i tried ros2 topic echo /odom
it either hangs or doesn't exist

Other notes

Tried using zenoh bridge connection and fastrps it all can't publish odom. Also even though I changed the rmw implementation to cyclonedds, in the create3 logs i can't find the choice to choose cyclonedds? I don't know if this is relevant. Also I wanted to know if changing the CPU can be manually changed from raspi to nvidia and if this would be a problem solving method

[smatarCPR]

Hello @jovytta ,
Thank you for reaching out on the Turtlebot 4 Github page. I am very sorry to hear that your Turtlebot is not meeting expectations. Based on the details shared I have the following questions/recommendations:

• Based on the impassability of the /odom topic, I suspect that there is a break in communication between the Raspberry Pi and the Create3. What is the status of the top LED lights of the Turtlebot 4 unit.
• Are you able to echo topics from the Create3 when SSH'ed into the Turtlebot 4 such as battery state and wheel ticks?
• What sort of network is the Create3 connected to? Is a 2.4 GHz network or 5.0 GHz? Is there an IP address assigned in the Connect tab of the Create3's webserver?

Let me know the results of these checks. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best Regards,
Saif

[jovytta]

My understanding is that for jazzy the create3 can't be connected to wifi, hence I didn't connect it to the wifi, and during that time the LED lights were all on except for the comm one. I have recently downgraded to humble and connected the create3 to wifi, and all the LED light were on. However, even with the LED lights on, the robot fails the ROS2 troubleshooting test. For the wifi, it's connected to a wifi that supports both 2.4ghz and 5ghz. With the humble one, there's an IP address in the connect tab.

[smatarCPR]

Hello @jovytta
Thank you for providing these details. With the COMM light now on, are you able to echo the /odm and topic, as well as other topics from the Create 3 such as /battery_state?

Regarding the ROS2 Troubleshooting test, is this run from the Turtletbot4's Setup Utility? If so, this tool was previously written in ROS 2 Galactic and is not applicable for ROS 2 Humble or newer.

In terms of the Nav2 stack: is the Turtlebot able to localize itself or is the same error appearing in the nav2 launch terminal?

Let me know the results of these checks. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best Regards,
Saif

[jovytta]

Hi Saif,

Now odom data is publishing BUT it's very unreliable, it sometimes publishes data and if I try again maybe 3 minutes after, the same can not be said (Sometimes it says that there are no /odom topic, sometimes when I echo it just hangs.)

As for the troubleshooting test, I just ran ros2 run turtlebot4_tests ros_tests. There was one instance where the light ring test was successful but that was when the create3 LCD screen was off for some reason, after I reboot and the LCD screen turned on, the test continued to fail. I'm not sure how it succeed once if it's not applicable to humble or newer.

Right now, my complaint is that the turtlebot is not very stable, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For the Nav2 stack, I have not tried it yet, I will get back to you once I try it again.

[smatarCPR]

Hello @jovytta
Apologies for the delayed response on this. It is good to hear that some progress has been made. In terms of the reliability issues, I have the following questions/recommendations:

• With regards to the network, what sort of network is it? Is it a 5.0 GHz network?
• Does there happen to be other Turtlebots, or other ROS enabled robots on this same network?
• Another check you can perform is to use htop to verify what the CPU usage statistics are. If the CPU is being maxed out.
• If it is being maxed would it be possible to verify if: the Navigation stack is being run on the offboard computer and not on the Raspberry Pi.
• Is the offboard computer running Ubuntu natively or is it a virtual machine?

In terms of your comments from the ZD ticket:

• With regards to the LCD screen being unstable, double check the connection from the Raspberry Pi/Create 3 to the PCBA. here are three main connection: the 40-pin ribbon cable - check to ensure that it is securely seated on both ends and that the red cable is towards the front of the Turtlebot

• The second connection is the USB connection, ensure that this is also fully inserted into its connector.
• The final connection is the power connections between the Create 3 and the PCBA:

• In terms of setting a static IP address, this can be done using the Turtlebot 4 setup tool. Under the wi-fi settings there should be a section to set the static IP address

Let me know the results of these checks. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best Regards,
Saif

[jovytta]

Hi Saif,

1. The network is a dual band network supporting 2.4 and 5 ghz.
2. This is the only instance as I dont have any experience with other bots
3. I always run navstack commands on my local machine.
4. native ubuntu
5. Everything seems ok/feels tight.

Are there any other troubleshooting steps I can do?

[smatarCPR]

Hello @jovytta
Thank you for providing the results of these checks. The next troubleshooting steps I would recommend is a review of the log files from both the Turtlebot and the Create 3. Would it be possible to:

• Provide the generated log file from running the command journalctl -b > turtlebot4_log.txt
• Provide the Create 3 logs from the Create 3 webserver - https://iroboteducation.github.io/create3_docs/webserver/logs/

I will review these logs and provide my observations. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best Regards,
Saif

[jovytta]

turtlebot4_log.txt
messages.txt

here are the logs!