TB4 Gazebo Sim: LiDAR self-collision + Nav2 cmd_vel not reaching controller in turtlebot4_gz_bringup

[AlirezaPedram]

Robot Model

Turtlebot4 Standard

ROS distro

Jazzy

Networking Configuration

I do not know

OS

Ubuntu 24.04

Built from source or installed?

Installed

Package version

Built from source.

Repository: https://github.com/turtlebot/turtlebot4_simulator
Branch: jazzy

Type of issue

LIDAR

Expected behaviour

I am running the TurtleBot 4 simulator in Gazebo Harmonic (Gazebo Sim), and I am seeing two related issues when using turtlebot4_gz_bringup. These issues occur in simulation; I am not using physical hardware. In contrast, the Nav2 TB4 simulation works as expected. When I launch the simulation using
ros2 launch nav2_bringup tb4_simulation_launch.py headless:=False slam:=True, the LiDAR behaves correctly: /scan contains realistic ranges, RViz shows laser hits on walls, and SLAM Toolbox is able to build a map.

However, when I launch ros2 launch turtlebot4_gz_bringup turtlebot4_gz.launch.py slam:=true nav2:=true rviz:=true, the LiDAR appears unusable. In RViz I only see a small red ring around the robot, with no wall hits visible. Inspecting /scan shows that almost all range values are clamped to range_min (0.164), which suggests that the LiDAR rays are immediately intersecting the robot’s own collision geometry (self-collision). TF and odometry appear correct, and /scan has a single publisher.

In addition, when following the TurtleBot 4 navigation tutorial (https://turtlebot.github.io/turtlebot4-user-manual/tutorials/navigation.html), Nav2 goals are accepted but the robot does not move. It looks like Nav2 publishes velocity commands on /cmd_vel_nav, while the diff drive controller listens on /diffdrive_controller/cmd_vel. If I manually relay the topics using ros2 run topic_tools relay /cmd_vel_nav /diffdrive_controller/cmd_vel, the robot starts moving immediately.

I am wondering whether these are known issues with turtlebot4_gz_bringup in Gazebo Harmonic, and whether there is a recommended configuration or fix for the LiDAR self-collision and the cmd_vel topic mismatch.

Actual behaviour

See the previous section please.

Error messages

To Reproduce

1. run: ros2 launch turtlebot4_gz_bringup turtlebot4_gz.launch.py slam:=true nav2:=true rviz:=true
2. add LaserScan in Rviz
3. /scan is clamped to range_min (0.164)

Other notes

No response

[CursedRock17]

Hey, I had an identical problem and it has to do with the "gpu_lidar" that simulates the RPLIDAR-A1 on the regular turtlebot4. It also has to do with the transition from Ogre1 -> Ogre2. If you're using a CPU to run Gazebo, you need to set the "Sensors" Engine to "Ogre2" in the robot which is located in /opt/ros/{ROS-DISTRO}/share/irobot_create_description/urdf, find the create3 .xacro file and alter render_engine from ogre to ogre2.

[RustyCPR]

Hi there @AlirezaPedram did @CursedRock17 comment work for you?
Regards,
Rusty

[RustyCPR]

Hi @AlirezaPedram
Just checking in to see if there have been any updates on this. If there’s nothing new to share at this point, we’ll plan to close the issue.
Please let us know if you’d like it to remain open.
Thanks!
Rusty