Tutorial 4 Attach Camera to Robot but camera stays stationary

Omniverse Isaac Sim
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Isaac Sim Version

5.1.0
5.0.0
4.5.0
4.2.0
4.1.0
4.0.0
4.5.0
2023.1.1
2023.1.0-hotfix.1
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Operating System

Ubuntu 24.04
Ubuntu 22.04
Ubuntu 20.04
Windows 11
Windows 10
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GPU Information

  • Model: Nvidia RTX 2000 Ada laptop
  • Driver Version: 580

Topic Description

Detailed Description

Created scene following tutorial. Adding joints and articulation worked fine. ArticulationController drives robot fine. But when I add a camera (Rob_Mock is default prim so it is added here) and drag it to under Rob_Body Xform and run simulation, camera stays stationary while robot moves. If I move Rob_Body Xform around, camera moves with body frame fine (camera is inside body coordinate system so should move with it).

If I follow same steps adding camera to mock_robot_rigged sample, it works fine. Why is mine different? Why is Velocity_Controller\ArticulationController not moving the camera during sim?

I noticed the properties/configuration of mock_robot_rigged don’t match what the tutorial on rigging robot describes. Tutorial says add physics Rigid Body with Collision to cube and cylinders. Rigid Body physics are disabled/missing while Collision API is enabled!?

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Load TutorialWheeledArticulated USD (my build of mock_robot_rigged) that works OK

  2. Verify Rob_Mock has Articulation root and it is enabled

  3. Create Camera

  4. Drag Camera under Rob_Base

  5. Camera will NOT follow Rob_Body during simulation

(Add more steps as needed)

Error Messages

Sometimes adding Viewport 2 crashes GUI

image
image1386×685 104 KB

image
image1418×503 64.4 KB

Robot runs away leaving camera behind

Additional Information

What I’ve Tried

Remove Rigid Body and retain Collision physics to match sample mock_robot_rigged. GUI crashes with cannot create physics joint messages.

How do I view Python code to compare it to mock_robot_rigged?

I added Physics material on wheels (HardRubber with realistic static and dynamic friction).

Related Issues

(If you’re aware of any related issues or forum posts, please link them here)

Additional Context

Copilot AI says camera is not in articulation tree!? Should be added automatically.

Rob_Mock\
Rob_Body
Rob_Wheel_Lft
Rob_Wheel_Rgt

2

The sample file Isaac Sim/Samples/Rigging/MockRobot/mock_robot_camera.usd should contain the correct configuration for attaching a camera.

Please compare how the camera prim is structured within the articulation tree in the sample versus your own scene.

3

My stage hierarchy looks the same, with Camera under the body xform but camera still will not move with mock_robot when I run the simulation. Must be some obscure setting I’m missing somewhere.

4

I fix. Rigid Body was enabled on body, wheel_left, wheel_right cube and cylinder (meshes?) instead of on parent xforms. Now Rigid Body is enabled on xforms and Collision only on cube and cylinder meshes same as mock_robot_rigged_cam. Camera moves with the body now.