diff --git a/robot_state_publisher/CMakeLists.txt b/robot_state_publisher/CMakeLists.txt
index 71711b7..3cffa58 100644
--- a/robot_state_publisher/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/robot_state_publisher/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ set(LIBRARY_OUTPUT_PATH ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lib)
 
 rosbuild_add_library(${PROJECT_NAME} src/joint_state_listener.cpp src/robot_state_publisher.cpp src/treefksolverposfull_recursive.cpp)
 
-rosbuild_add_executable(state_publisher src/state_publisher.cpp )
+rosbuild_add_executable(state_publisher src/robot_state_publisher_node.cpp )
 target_link_libraries(state_publisher ${PROJECT_NAME})
 
 rosbuild_add_executable(test_publisher test/test_publisher.cpp )
diff --git a/robot_state_publisher/doc.dox b/robot_state_publisher/doc.dox
index ed23c6a..9267270 100644
--- a/robot_state_publisher/doc.dox
+++ b/robot_state_publisher/doc.dox
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@
 
 @htmlinclude manifest.html
 
-This package contains the robot state publisher, which can be used as a library or as a ROS node.
- \li LIbrary use: robot_state_publisher::RobotStatePublisher
- \li Node use: robot_state_publisher::JointStateListener
+This package contains the robot state publisher, which can be used as
+a library or as a ROS node. The API documentation for the library can
+be found here: robot_state_publisher::RobotStatePublisher
+
 
 **/
diff --git a/robot_state_publisher/include/robot_state_publisher/robot_state_publisher.h b/robot_state_publisher/include/robot_state_publisher/robot_state_publisher.h
index 755c288..e889420 100644
--- a/robot_state_publisher/include/robot_state_publisher/robot_state_publisher.h
+++ b/robot_state_publisher/include/robot_state_publisher/robot_state_publisher.h
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ public:
   /** Publish transforms to tf 
    * \param joint_positions A map of joint names and joint positions. 
    * \param time The time at which the joint positions were recorded
+   * returns true on success; return false when the joint positions don't match the kinematic robot model
    */
   bool publishTransforms(const std::map<std::string, double>& joint_positions, const ros::Time& time);
 
diff --git a/robot_state_publisher/src/joint_state_listener.cpp b/robot_state_publisher/src/joint_state_listener.cpp
index 89ba292..2505130 100644
--- a/robot_state_publisher/src/joint_state_listener.cpp
+++ b/robot_state_publisher/src/joint_state_listener.cpp
@@ -54,9 +54,7 @@ JointStateListener::JointStateListener(const KDL::Tree& tree)
   publish_rate_ = Rate(publish_freq);
   
   // subscribe to mechanism state
-  string joint_state_topic;
-  n_.param("joint_state_topic", joint_state_topic, string("/joint_states"));
-  joint_state_sub_ = n_.subscribe(joint_state_topic, 1, &JointStateListener::callbackJointState, this);;
+  joint_state_sub_ = n_.subscribe("/joint_states", 1, &JointStateListener::callbackJointState, this);;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/robot_state_publisher/src/state_publisher.cpp b/robot_state_publisher/src/robot_state_publisher_node.cpp
similarity index 94%
rename from robot_state_publisher/src/state_publisher.cpp
rename to robot_state_publisher/src/robot_state_publisher_node.cpp
index 6fb4143..137cafc 100644
--- a/robot_state_publisher/src/state_publisher.cpp
+++ b/robot_state_publisher/src/robot_state_publisher_node.cpp
@@ -57,9 +57,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
   NodeHandle node;
 
   // gets the location of the robot description on the parameter server
-  string param_name, full_param_name;
-  node.param("~/robot_desc_param", param_name, string("robot_description"));
-  node.searchParam(param_name,full_param_name);
+  string full_param_name;
+  node.searchParam("robot_description",full_param_name);
   string robot_desc;
 
   // constructs a kdl tree from the robot model