> The two nodes not being connected was what I noticed too. I am using
> the robot_state_publisher as showed similarly in
> http://www.ros.org/wiki/urdf/Tutorials/Using%20urdf%20with%20robot_state_publisher
> which I managed to get working.
>
> If the state_publisher is supposed to automatically connect to the
> joint_states topic, what could prevent it to do so?

It will automatically connect if the names of the topics match up. You
can check what it is trying to connect to by using "rosnode info
robot_state_publisher". The joint_states topic should be listed as one
of the subscribed topics. Also, the "rostopic info joint_states"
command is useful for debugging this.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Wim


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Wim Meeussen
Willow Garage Inc.
<http://www.willowgarage.com)