robot_state_publisher
- Software
- Middleware
- Tool
A ROS node and class that publishes a robot's joint states as 3D transforms to tf2, using a URDF kinematic model of the robot.
Made by ROS core stacks.
Source on GitHub: github.com/ros/robot_state_publisher (opens in a new tab). Facts read at commit 9bcf8fc (opens in a new tab).
Licenses
- Code
- BSD-3-Clause (opens in a new tab)
Read by Robotheca from LICENSE (opens in a new tab) (BSD-3-Clause) at commit 9bcf8fc (opens in a new tab), on 16 Oct 2026.
- Commercial use
- Yes
What it does
- Loads a robot's kinematic tree from a URDF supplied at startup.
- Subscribes to joint_states and turns the joint values into transforms on the tf topic.
- Publishes fixed joints once on the transient-local tf_static topic.
- Can receive the robot description from a robot_description topic instead of a parameter.
- Republishes the robot description as a transient-local topic when the parameter mode is used.
- Parameters control publish frequency, timestamp handling and an optional frame prefix.
Written by Robotheca from the project's README (opens in a new tab) at commit 9bcf8fc.
Getting started
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- How to start
- The project's README (opens in a new tab)
Maintenance
- Status
- Active: a commit in the last 90 days
- Newest commit
- 6 Oct 2026 on rolling
- Latest release
- None published on GitHub
Checked on GitHub on 16 Oct 2026.
Links
Robots on Robotheca that use it
No robot on Robotheca is linked to it yet. Links come from a robot's robot.yaml, from its dependency files read as text, or from Robotheca's editors.
Robotheca lists software as a reference: nothing is hosted or run here, and every fact links to where it was read.