ROS MCP Client 🧠⇄🤖

The ROS MCP Client is a reference implementation of a Model Context Protocol (MCP) client, designed to connect directly with ros-mcp-server.

Instead of using a Desktop LLM client, it acts as a bridge that integrates an LLM, enabling natural-language interaction with any ROS or ROS2 robot.

🧠 What It Does

ros-mcp-client implements the LLM-side of the MCP protocol.

It can:

• Connect to a ros-mcp-server over MCP (stdio or HTTP).
• Send natural language queries or structured requests to the robot without the need to integrate it with a Desktop LLM client
• Stream back feedback, sensor data, or responses from the server.
• Integrate with a local LLM (Gemini, Ollama, Nvidia NeMo).

In short, it lets you run an MCP-compatible client that speaks to robots via the MCP interface — useful for testing, local reasoning, or autonomous AI controllers.

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⚙️ Key Features of the ROS MCP Client

• Implements MCP client specification — plug-and-play with the ROS MCP server.

• ROS-aware LLM interface — specialized prompts and handlers for robotics tasks.

• Supports bidirectional streaming — send commands, receive real-time topic feedback.

• LLM integration ready — use Gemini, Anthropic, or Ollama APIs as reasoning engines.

• Offline-capable — works entirely within local or LAN environments.

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🛠 Getting Started

The MCP client is version-agnostic (ROS1 or ROS2).

Prerequisites

• ROS or ROS2 running with rosbridge
• Active ros-mcp-server instance

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/robotmcp/ros-mcp-client.git
cd ros-mcp-client

2. Install dependencies

uv sync  # or pip install -e .

3. Follow the setup guide for the Gemini Live client:

   • Gemini Live Client - Google Gemini integration

4. Start rosbridge on the target robot

ros2 launch rosbridge_server rosbridge_websocket_launch.xml

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📁 Project Structure

ros-mcp-client/
├── clients/
│   ├── gemini_live/          # Full-featured Gemini client
│   │   ├── gemini_client.py  # Main client script
│   │   ├── mcp.json          # MCP server configuration
│   │   ├── setup_gemini_client.sh  # Automated setup
│   │   └── README.md         # Detailed setup guide
├── config/                   # Shared configuration
├── scripts/                  # Utility scripts
├── pyproject.toml           # Python dependencies
└── README.md               # This file

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📚 Available Clients

The project includes a comprehensive LLM client implementation:

🤖 Gemini Live Client (clients/gemini_live/)

• Full-featured Google Gemini integration
• Text-only mode optimized for WSL
• Real-time interaction with ROS robots
• Automated setup with setup_gemini_client.sh

🚀 Quick Start

# Try the Gemini Live client
cd clients/gemini_live
./setup_gemini_client.sh
uv run gemini_client.py

We welcome community PRs with new client implementations and integrations!

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🤝 Contributing

We love contributions of all kinds:

• Bug fixes and documentation updates
• New features (e.g., Action support, permissions)
• Additional examples and tutorials

Check out the contributing guidelines and see issues tagged good first issue to get started.

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.