Controller_server dies when starting nav2 for turtlebot navigation.

[dah-nz]

Robot Model

Turtlebot4 Lite

ROS distro

Jazzy

Networking Configuration

Discovery Server

OS

Ubuntu 24.04

Built from source or installed?

Installed

Package version

ros-jazzy-turtlebot4-desktop 2.0.1-1noble.20260616.084636
ros-jazzy-turtlebot4-navigation 2.1.1-1noble.20260616.084152
ros-jazzy-nav2-controller 1.3.12-1noble.20260615.165600
amd64

Type of issue

Navigation (SLAM, Nav2 etc.)

Expected behaviour

Running the command ros2 launch turtlebot4_navigation nav2.launch.py on the user PC should result in nav2 running so nav2 goal can be used within rviz2.

Actual behaviour

When running ros2 launch turtlebot4_navigation nav2.launch.py, the controller_server dies with exit code -4.
The costmap doesn't update, and nav2 goals won't work within rviz2.

Error messages

ros2 launch turtlebot4_navigation nav2.launch.py
[INFO] [launch]: All log files can be found below /home/lab/.ros/log/2026-07-06-11-35-03-299207-turtlebot-5090
[INFO] [launch]: Default logging verbosity is set to INFO
[INFO] [controller_server-1]: process started with pid [5093]
[INFO] [smoother_server-2]: process started with pid [5094]
[INFO] [planner_server-3]: process started with pid [5097]
[INFO] [route_server-4]: process started with pid [5098]
[INFO] [behavior_server-5]: process started with pid [5100]
[INFO] [bt_navigator-6]: process started with pid [5104]
[INFO] [waypoint_follower-7]: process started with pid [5106]
[INFO] [velocity_smoother-8]: process started with pid [5128]
[INFO] [collision_monitor-9]: process started with pid [5129]
[INFO] [opennav_docking-10]: process started with pid [5130]
[INFO] [lifecycle_manager-11]: process started with pid [5133]
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294503.571828423] [controller_server]: 
[controller_server-1] 	controller_server lifecycle node launched. 
[controller_server-1] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[controller_server-1] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294503.573187521] [controller_server]: Creating controller server
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294503.607646363] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: 
[controller_server-1] 	local_costmap lifecycle node launched. 
[controller_server-1] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[controller_server-1] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294503.607851362] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Creating Costmap
[smoother_server-2] [INFO] [1783294503.671597012] [smoother_server]: 
[smoother_server-2] 	smoother_server lifecycle node launched. 
[smoother_server-2] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[smoother_server-2] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[smoother_server-2] [INFO] [1783294503.672164323] [smoother_server]: Creating smoother server
[planner_server-3] [INFO] [1783294503.709909831] [planner_server]: 
[planner_server-3] 	planner_server lifecycle node launched. 
[planner_server-3] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[planner_server-3] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[planner_server-3] [INFO] [1783294503.714606015] [planner_server]: Creating
[bt_navigator-6] [INFO] [1783294503.730188041] [bt_navigator]: 
[bt_navigator-6] 	bt_navigator lifecycle node launched. 
[bt_navigator-6] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[bt_navigator-6] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[bt_navigator-6] [INFO] [1783294503.730960727] [bt_navigator]: Creating
[planner_server-3] [INFO] [1783294503.732419665] [global_costmap.global_costmap]: 
[planner_server-3] 	global_costmap lifecycle node launched. 
[planner_server-3] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[planner_server-3] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[planner_server-3] [INFO] [1783294503.732623658] [global_costmap.global_costmap]: Creating Costmap
[velocity_smoother-8] [INFO] [1783294503.733970734] [velocity_smoother]: 
[route_server-4] [INFO] [1783294503.737642061] [route_server]: 
[behavior_server-5] [INFO] [1783294503.740546256] [behavior_server]: 
[behavior_server-5] 	behavior_server lifecycle node launched. 
[behavior_server-5] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[behavior_server-5] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[velocity_smoother-8] 	velocity_smoother lifecycle node launched. 
[velocity_smoother-8] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[velocity_smoother-8] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[route_server-4] 	route_server lifecycle node launched. 
[route_server-4] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[route_server-4] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[lifecycle_manager-11] [INFO] [1783294503.747085407] [lifecycle_manager_navigation]: Creating
[waypoint_follower-7] [INFO] [1783294503.748275909] [waypoint_follower]: 
[waypoint_follower-7] 	waypoint_follower lifecycle node launched. 
[waypoint_follower-7] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[waypoint_follower-7] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[waypoint_follower-7] [INFO] [1783294503.748492401] [waypoint_follower]: Creating
[lifecycle_manager-11] [INFO] [1783294503.755424511] [lifecycle_manager_navigation]: Creating and initializing lifecycle service clients
[collision_monitor-9] [INFO] [1783294503.756179757] [collision_monitor]: 
[collision_monitor-9] 	collision_monitor lifecycle node launched. 
[collision_monitor-9] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[collision_monitor-9] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[opennav_docking-10] [INFO] [1783294503.757263086] [docking_server]: 
[opennav_docking-10] 	docking_server lifecycle node launched. 
[opennav_docking-10] 	Waiting on external lifecycle transitions to activate
[opennav_docking-10] 	See https://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html for more information.
[opennav_docking-10] [INFO] [1783294503.758193356] [docking_server]: Creating docking_server
[lifecycle_manager-11] [INFO] [1783294505.757634815] [lifecycle_manager_navigation]: Waiting for service controller_server/get_state...
[lifecycle_manager-11] [INFO] [1783294509.702449022] [lifecycle_manager_navigation]: Waiting for service route_server/get_state...
[lifecycle_manager-11] [INFO] [1783294511.703153838] [lifecycle_manager_navigation]: Waiting for service route_server/get_state...
[lifecycle_manager-11] [INFO] [1783294513.458079698] [lifecycle_manager_navigation]: Starting managed nodes bringup...
[lifecycle_manager-11] [INFO] [1783294513.458119027] [lifecycle_manager_navigation]: Configuring controller_server
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.464702795] [controller_server]: Configuring controller interface
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.464768297] [controller_server]: getting progress checker plugins..
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.472644272] [controller_server]: getting goal checker plugins..
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.482688656] [controller_server]: Controller frequency set to 20.0000Hz
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.485432353] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Configuring
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.744085158] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Using plugin "static_layer"
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.828127783] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Subscribing to the map topic (/map) with transient local durability
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.873072049] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Initialized plugin "static_layer"
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.873434017] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Using plugin "voxel_layer"
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294513.927050383] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Subscribed to Topics: scan
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.056732095] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Initialized plugin "voxel_layer"
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.056781219] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Using plugin "inflation_layer"
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.073126019] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: Initialized plugin "inflation_layer"
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.351471628] [local_costmap.local_costmap]: StaticLayer: Resizing static layer to 510 X 321 at 0.050000 m/pix
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.351553182] [controller_server]: Created progress_checker : progress_checker of type nav2_controller::SimpleProgressChecker
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.365304177] [controller_server]: Controller Server has progress_checker  progress checkers available.
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.368873692] [controller_server]: Created goal checker : general_goal_checker of type nav2_controller::SimpleGoalChecker
[controller_server-1] [INFO] [1783294514.381271760] [controller_server]: Controller Server has general_goal_checker  goal checkers available.
[ERROR] [controller_server-1]: process has died [pid 5093, exit code -4, cmd '/opt/ros/jazzy/lib/nav2_controller/controller_server --ros-args --log-level info --ros-args -r __ns:=/ -p use_sim_time:=False --params-file /tmp/launch_params_ya_4ni3p -r /global_costmap/scan:=/scan -r /local_costmap/scan:=/scan -r /tf:=tf -r /tf_static:=tf_static -r cmd_vel:=cmd_vel_nav'].

To Reproduce

On a fresh install of ubuntu 24.04, with the latest versions of ros2 turtlebot4-desktop and turtlebot4-navigation installed on the user PC:

I generated a map using keyboard teleop and slam.

Then I started the localisation and navigation stack:
ros2 launch turtlebot4_navigation localization.launch.py map:map260706.yaml
ros2 launch turtlebot4_navigation nav2.launch.py
ros2 launch turtlebot4_viz view_navigation.launch.py

When running nav2.launch.py, the controller_server process dies before I can start rviz2 and set the estimated position, or do any navigation.

Other notes

All of these commands are run on the user PC, not the Turtlebot 4 Raspberry Pi.
It also fails if I start the localisation, then rviz2, set the estimated position, and then start nav2.

This is probably related to #699

Thanks for your help.

[RustyCPR]

Hi there @dah-nz
Sorry to see your having these concerns occurring.
Has Nav2 ever run successfully with this TB4 Lite?
Can you please provide the details of your user PC? are you running Ubuntu 24.04 natively?

Best regards,
Rusty

[dah-nz]

Yeah, I am able to get Nav2 running on the Raspberry Pi in the TB4. It's not particularly reliable - the path-finding often times-out before finding a path, especially when the goal is behind the bot - but it does generate a valid costmap.
It hasn't run from a user PC at all.

I'm running Ubuntu in a VM on a reasonably powerful host machine.

Thanks.

[RustyCPR]

Hi @dah-nz
Unfortunately, our support team is unable to provide troubleshooting assistance for virtualized environments, as these setups can introduce variables that are outside of our ability to validate and support. We only provide support for ROS running natively on our supported operating systems.
If possible, we recommend reproducing the issue on a PC running Ubuntu 24.04 with ROS 2 Jazzy installed natively. This configuration is fully supported and will allow us to more effectively investigate and assist with any issues you encounter.

Once you have had an opportunity to test in that environment, please let us know the results and we will be happy to continue supporting you.

Thank you for your understanding.
Rusty