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Robot Bus

Robot Bus is a lightweight, multi-language messaging framework with a ROS 2–style programming model — topics, services, actions, and Node + spin — built on ZeroMQ. It does not replace ROS 2; it extends the ROS 2 ecosystem to environments that are hard to deploy (for example Android, Windows, and browsers), and to other languages such as Java and TypeScript.

SDKs: Rust, Python, TypeScript, C++, Java, Android.

Key Features

• ROS 2–style primitives: Topic pub/sub, service, action (send_goal → GoalHandle → result / cancel), timers, and parameters.
• One broker, many languages: Rust, Python, TypeScript, C++, Java, and Android SDKs against the same bus. Prefer starting the broker from your program (RobotBusBroker.start()); the CLI is for demos or a standalone process.
• Embedded Web console: Overview, Topics, Services, Actions, Topology, plus a built-in tank demo — no extra frontend process.
• Optional ROS 2 bridge: In-process topic / service / action bridging with rclrs / rclpy / rclcpp (Humble / Jazzy). The core SDK stays ROS-free unless the bridge is enabled.
• Protobuf contracts: All payloads are Protocol Buffers (not ROS CDR), aligned with common ROS 2 package names under proto/.
• Browser and remote clients: WebSocket RPC (Node::ws / Node.ws; transport "ws"). Breaking: /ws is V3 framing (opcode + raw payload); V2 clients are not compatible.

The Node programming model — Context / Node, topic pub-sub, service, action, and spin — is the stable public API.

Install

• Python

pip install robot-bus

• Rust

robot-bus = "2.2.0"

• npm

npm install robot-bus

• Maven

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.indunet</groupId>
    <artifactId>robot-bus</artifactId>
    <version>2.2.0</version>
</dependency>

• Gradle (Android)

implementation("org.indunet:robot-bus-android:2.2.0")

• C++ (GitHub Releases DEB / MSI)

sudo apt install ./robot-bus_2.2.0_linux_amd64.deb

1. Quick start

1.1 Install and start the broker

Prefer starting the broker from your program (RobotBusBroker.start() / the equivalent API in each language) so it shares a process and lifecycle with your application. The CLI is for demos, multi-process bring-up, or a standalone long-running broker.

import robot_bus

with robot_bus.RobotBusBroker.start() as broker:
    # application code …
    pass

Rust / C++ / TypeScript / Java / Android expose the same in-process API; see the language guides.

Default API / Web console / WebSocket listen: http://0.0.0.0:15570. After the broker is up, open the Web console in a browser.

Runnable demos (topic, service, action) for Rust / Python / C++: examples/. Those examples are multi-process, so they use a standalone broker:

python -m robot_bus.broker
# npx robot-bus          # after npm install robot-bus
# cargo run --bin robot_bus_broker
# robot_bus_broker   # C++ DEB / MSI / PKG

1.2 Tank demo

A built-in mini tank sim helps you see topics moving end-to-end without writing code first:

1. Start the broker (python -m robot_bus.broker).
2. Open http://127.0.0.1:15570 and click TANK in the sidebar (or go to /tank/).
3. Click the panel, then drive with arrow keys; or switch to point navigation and click on the map to send a goal.

Opening the panel starts the in-process tank node. It subscribes to /robot_bus/tank/cmd_vel and publishes /robot_bus/tank/pose. Multiple browsers share one world (teleop is last-writer-wins). Disable with --no-tank if needed. Sidebar DOCS is shown by default; hide with --no-docs.

1.3 Topic (publish / subscribe)

import robot_bus
from robot_bus.sensor_msgs.msg.v1 import Imu
from robot_bus.geometry_msgs.msg.v1 import Vector3

def on_imu(imu: Imu):
    print(imu.linear_acceleration)

node = robot_bus.Node("pilot")

imu_pub = node.create_publisher("/robot1/imu", Imu)
node.create_subscription("/robot1/imu", on_imu, msg_type=Imu)
imu_pub.publish(Imu(linear_acceleration=Vector3(x=0.0, y=0.0, z=9.8)))
# node.spin()

1.4 Service

import robot_bus
from robot_bus.std_srvs.srv.v1 import SetBoolRequest, SetBoolResponse

def on_set_bool(req: SetBoolRequest) -> SetBoolResponse:
    return SetBoolResponse(success=True, message=f"set:{req.data}")

server = robot_bus.Node("worker")
client = robot_bus.Node("caller")

server.create_service(
    "/set_bool", on_set_bool,
    request_type=SetBoolRequest, response_type=SetBoolResponse,
)
svc = client.create_client(
    "/set_bool",
    request_type=SetBoolRequest, response_type=SetBoolResponse,
)
# reply = svc.call(SetBoolRequest(data=True), timeout=5.0)
# server.spin()

1.5 Action

import robot_bus
from robot_bus.example_interfaces.action.v1 import (
    FibonacciGoal, FibonacciFeedback, FibonacciResult,
)

def on_fibonacci(goal: FibonacciGoal, context):
    seq = list(range(goal.order))
    context.publish_feedback(FibonacciFeedback(sequence=seq[:1]))
    return FibonacciResult(sequence=seq)

server = robot_bus.Node("worker")
client = robot_bus.Node("caller")

server.create_action_server(
    "/fibonacci", on_fibonacci,
    goal_type=FibonacciGoal,
    feedback_type=FibonacciFeedback,
    result_type=FibonacciResult,
)
act = client.create_action_client(
    "/fibonacci",
    goal_type=FibonacciGoal,
    feedback_type=FibonacciFeedback,
    result_type=FibonacciResult,
)
goal = act.send_goal(
    FibonacciGoal(order=5),
    feedback_callback=lambda fb: print(fb.sequence),
)
# result = goal.result(timeout=10.0)
# server.spin()

More detail: docs/en/python-api.md.

1.6 Documentation

2. Web console

The broker ships with an embedded monitoring UI (Overview, Topics, Services, Actions, Topology, logs). After RobotBusBroker.start() in your program (or a standalone python -m robot_bus.broker / cargo run --bin robot_bus_broker), open:

http://127.0.0.1:15570

Web console — Overview / Topics / Services / Actions / Topology.

Tank demo — sidebar TANK. Click the panel, then drive with arrow keys; or switch to point navigation and click on the map to send a goal.

For a hands-on walkthrough, try the Tank demo from the sidebar TANK entry. Sidebar DOCS is shown by default (--no-docs to hide). Same port as the API / WebSocket gateway. Disable the UI with --no-console if needed. Frontend source: console/; local UI development: console/README.md.

3. ROS 2 bridge

In-process topic / service / action bridging between robot-bus and ROS 2. Each language uses its native client (rclrs / rclpy / rclcpp). Official support: Humble and Jazzy. The core SDK stays ROS-free unless the bridge is enabled.

Requires a sourced ROS 2 distro and rclpy, plus a running broker (prefer RobotBusBroker.start() in application code; the CLI below is for a standalone broker):

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash   # or jazzy
python -m robot_bus.broker                 # another terminal

import robot_bus
from robot_bus.ros2_bridge import (
    Ros2Bridge,
    StdMsgsStringMapper,
    TopicQos,
    TriggerServiceMapper,
)

assert robot_bus.ros2_available()

bridge = (
    Ros2Bridge.new("ros_bridge")
    .bus_tcp("localhost")
    .from_ros("/chatter", TopicQos.keep_last(10).reliable())
    .to_bus("/chatter", TopicQos.keep_last(8).best_effort())
    .mapper(StdMsgsStringMapper())
    .add()
    .service()
    .from_ros("/reset", TopicQos.keep_last(10).reliable())
    .to_bus("/reset", TopicQos.keep_last(8).best_effort())
    .mapper(TriggerServiceMapper())
    .add()
    .build()
)
bridge.spin()

Full guide and examples (Rust / Python / C++): docs/en/ros2-bridge.md. For full package migration (not just bridging), see docs/skills/.

4. Protobuf messages

All robot-bus payloads — topics, services, and actions — are defined and serialized with Protocol Buffers. The wire format is protobuf bytes (not ROS CDR). Typed APIs bind a protobuf message class at create time and encode/decode automatically; omit the type to work with raw bytes.

Contracts live under proto/ in a ROS-style layout, aligned with common ROS 2 package names:

proto/<package>/{msg|srv|action|grpc}/v1/*.proto

Many built-in types are already provided, aligned with common ROS 2 packages. A few examples:

Generated stubs ship inside published packages (PyPI, crates.io, npm, DEB/MSI, Maven) — consumers do not need protoc. Message modules live under the robot_bus namespace and do not claim top-level ROS package names on the wire. Full list: proto/.

4.1 Custom messages

When the builtins are not enough, define your own protobuf types the same way. Typed APIs accept any protobuf message class (they do not have to live in this repository).

1. Write a .proto (ROS-style package path recommended):

syntax = "proto3";
package my_robot.msg.v1;

message BatteryStatus {
  double voltage = 1;
  double percentage = 2;
}

2. Generate code into your own project, for example with Python:

protoc --python_out=. --pyi_out=. my_robot/msg/v1/battery_status.proto

3. Use it on a Node like a built-in type:

from my_robot.msg.v1 import battery_status_pb2 as pb

node = robot_bus.Node("bms")
pub = node.create_publisher("/battery", pb.BatteryStatus)
node.create_subscription("/battery", lambda msg: print(msg.voltage), msg_type=pb.BatteryStatus)
pub.publish(pb.BatteryStatus(voltage=48.0, percentage=0.85))

To contribute a type into this repo’s built-in set: add the file under proto/ and regenerate with just gen-python (or the matching just gen-* for other languages).

5. Application scenarios

5.1 Lightweight ROS 2–style messaging

When a full ROS 2 installation is unnecessary, robot-bus provides the same programming model with a smaller footprint — suitable for prototypes, tooling, Windows hosts, and constrained deployments.

5.2 Heterogeneous systems with ROS 2

Run ROS 2 on Ubuntu (or other Linux hosts) as usual, and place part of the compute on Android devices or other hosts where ROS 2 is impractical. Use robot-bus on those hosts with the same topic / service / action model, then interconnect via the ROS 2 bridge.

5.3 Prototype on bus, migrate to ROS 2

Because robot-bus is lightweight and quick to bring up, teams can prototype and validate nodes on bus first, then migrate the validated design to native ROS 2 (or keep the process on bus and bridge only the interfaces that must join the ROS 2 graph).

Migration playbooks for Agent / developers: docs/skills/ros2-to-robot-bus and docs/skills/robot-bus-to-ros2. In Cursor, @ those files or ask to migrate a package either way.

6. Contribution

If you are interested in this project and want to join and undertake part of the work (development/testing/documentation), please feel free to contact me via email deng_ran@aliyun.com

Robot Bus is not built for profit. In restless moments, writing code brings me calm; if this library helps you, that is the motivation for me to keep refining it.

7. License

Robot Bus is released under the Apache 2.0 license.

Copyright 2026 indunet.org

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at the following link.

     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.