tstar_description

URDF description package for the TartanStar sensor rig. Contains the xacro model, STL meshes, and a Python library for querying transforms.

Sensors

Link	Sensor
body	Main chassis
gq7_*	MicroStrain GQ7 IMU/GNSS
xwr	mmWave radar (XWR)
zed_camera_*	ZED X stereo camera
thermal_*	Thermal cameras
event_*	Event cameras
os_dome_*	Ouster dome LiDAR + IMU

Load the URDF

from tstar_description import load_urdf, list_frames, get_transform

sensor = load_urdf()

List all frames

frames = list_frames(sensor)
# ['base_link', 'body', 'event_left', 'event_right', 'gps', ...]

Get a transform between frames

T = get_transform("base_link", "zed_camera_link", sensor)
# 4x4 homogeneous transform matrix (numpy)

Rerun Visualization

Visualize URDF with rerun:

uv run tstar-extrinsics

Then open rerun with:

rerun --connect

ROS 2 Usage

install and build as ros2 pkg

Launch the robot state publisher:

ros2 launch tstar_description robot_state.launch.py

Launch with RViz2 visualization:

ros2 launch tstar_description robot_state.launch.py rviz:=true