ROS Package bob_topic_tools

This ROS Package is part of Bob’s NLP and LLM tools.

The contained ROS Nodes are a collection of std_msgs/String topic tools. It extends the already existing ROS package topic_tools but more dedicated to NLP tasks.

ROS Node Filter

String topic filter ROS node. It supports also dynamic parameter reconfigure during runtime.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
white_filter	string array	String array with white list rules. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_WHITE_FILTER.
black_filter	string array	String array with blacklist rules. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_BLACK_FILTER.
white_list	string	White list file. This overrides parameter white_filter. Format: Yaml file with a list of strings containing regex rules. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_WHITE_LIST.
black_list	string	Black list file. This overrides parameter black_filter. Format: Yaml file with a list of strings containing regex rules. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_BLACK_LIST.
substitute	string array	Substitutions using regex. Expects pairs: ['pattern', 'replace', ...]. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_SUBSTITUTE.
trim_data	boolean	If true, trims whitespace (or trim_chars) from the message. Default false. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_TRIM_DATA.
trim_chars	string	Characters to trim if trim_data is true. Defaults to standard whitespace if empty. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_TRIM_CHARS.
skip_empty	boolean	If true, skips messages that are empty after processing. Default false. Can also be set via environment variable FILTER_SKIP_EMPTY.

Topics

Name	Type	Description
~topic_in	std_msgs/String	Read input data from topic.
~topic_out	std_msgs/String	Publish filtered output.
~topic_rejected	std_msgs/String	Publish rejected output.

ROS Node Stream Filter

String Stream topic filter node. Can redirect text portion enclosured in start/end tags.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
buffer_size	integer	Input buffer size, default: 65535. Can also be set via environment variable STREAM_FILTER_BUFFER_SIZE.
end_tag	string	End tag of the area to filter out, default </think>. Can also be set via environment variable STREAM_FILTER_END_TAG.
start_tag	string	Start tag of the area to sort out, default <think>. Can also be set via environment variable STREAM_FILTER_START_TAG.
window_size	integer	Rolling window size to detect the tags. This should be > then max tag length, default: 32. Can also be set via environment variable STREAM_FILTER_WINDOW_SIZE.

Topics

Name	Type	Description
~stream_in	std_msgs/String	Read input string stream from topic.
~stream_out	std_msgs/String	Publish data outside of the enclosing tags.
~stream_filtered	std_msgs/String	Publish data within the enclosing tags.

ROS Node Aggregator

String Stream aggregator node.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
delimiters	string array	List of delimiter strings where to stop aggregating. Supports multi-character delimiters like . . Default: ['.', ',', '!', '?', '\n'].
auto_flush	integer	Auto-flush timer in milliseconds. Default 1500ms.

Topics

Name	Type	Description
~stream_in	std_msgs/String	Read input string stream from topic.
~stream_out	std_msgs/String	Publish aggregated output.

ROS Node Drain

String topic forwarding node with drain behavior. Controls the flow of messages to the output topic at a specified frequency.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
frequency	double	Frequency in seconds to forward incoming messages to output topic. Default 1.0.

Topics

Name	Type	Description
~drain_in	std_msgs/String	Input stream topic.
~drain_out	std_msgs/String	Buffered output stream topic.

ROS Node Terminal

Basic String topic IO terminal ROS Node with syntax highlighting.

Dependencies

The required QT5 libraries should already exist if ROS is installed. If missing use below installation to get them.

sudo apt install python3-pyqt5
sudo apt install python3-pyqt5.qsci

Usage

# run frameless terminal window using ROS parameter
ros2 run bob_topic_tools terminal --ros-args -p frameless:=true -p geometry:=[300,300,600,480]

# show window on another display
# display what will be received from socket
netcat -U /tmp/some.sock | ros2 run bob_topic_tools terminal --ros-args -p display:=1 -p geometry:=[300,300,600,480]

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
display	integer	Display where to show window. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_DISPLAY.
fontname	string	Window fontname. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_FONTNAME.
fontsize	integer	Window fontsize. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_FONTSIZE.
frameless	boolean	Switch off window caption. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_FRAMELESS.
geometry	integer array	Window geometry. [x, y, width, height]. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_GEOMETRY.
input	boolean	Enables or disables the text input field. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_INPUT.
line_count	integer	Maximum line count in the text area. 0 = unlimited. If exceeded, lines are removed from the top. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_LINE_COUNT.
margin	integer array	Window inner margin. [left, top, right, bottom]. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_MARGIN.
opacity	double	Window opacity. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_OPACITY.
stylesheet	string	Stylesheet qss of PlainText area. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_STYLESHEET.
stylesheet_window	string	Stylesheet qss of Window area. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_STYLESHEET_WINDOW.
title	string	Title of window. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_TITLE.
lexer	string	The lexer to be used: QsciLexerMarkdown, QsciLexerJSON, QsciLexerPython. Default: QsciLexerMarkdown. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_LEXER.
image_view	boolean	Start with image view option. Default: false. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_IMAGE_VIEW.
color_paper	string	Background color (named or HEX). Default: black. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_COLOR_PAPER.
color_text	string	Text color (named or HEX). Default: lightgray. Can also be set via environment variable TERMINAL_COLOR_TEXT.

Topics

Name	Type	Description
~topic_in	std_msgs/String	Read input data from topic.
~topic_in_cr	std_msgs/String	Read input data and append newline.
~topic_out	std_msgs/String	Publish text entered in terminal.
~image	sensor_msgs/Image	Optional image subscription.