Robotics
REP-105 (Coordinate Frames for Mobile Platforms)
ActivePublished
Key
innovation
Separating the smooth local frame (odom) from the discretely corrected global frame (map) in a standardized TF hierarchy.
Category
Robotics
Abstraction level
Pattern
Operation level
Robot controlSystem
How it works
The standard establishes a transform hierarchy (the TF tree): base_link is a child of odom, and odom a child of map (optionally map is a child of earth). Odometry updates odom→base_link smoothly, while localization corrects map→odom, moving discrete jumps outside the control path to preserve motion continuity.
Problem solved
Different robot modules need a common, unambiguous coordinate-frame convention; without it, data from odometry, localization and navigation cannot be combined consistently.