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easy-drone (Python)

easy-drone is a pure-Python implementation of Gazebo Transport with built-in discovery, ZeroMQ transport, and optional Zenoh support. It ships 200+ protobuf message types so you can publish and subscribe without compiling C++.

Install​

git clone https://github.com/TensorFleet/easy-drone-python.git
cd easy-drone-python

# Recommended
python3 -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

# Optional extras
pip install -e .[zenoh]   # Zenoh backend
pip install -e .[yolo]    # YOLO-based perception examples
pip install -e .[all]     # Everything

To consume directly from GitHub without cloning:

pip install --no-cache-dir git+https://github.com/TensorFleet/easy-drone-python.git

Publish and subscribe​

from gz_transport import Node
from gz.msgs.stringmsg_pb2 import StringMsg

node = Node()

# Publisher
pub = node.advertise("/chatter", StringMsg)
msg = StringMsg()
msg.data = "Hello Tensorfleet"
pub.publish(msg)

# Subscriber
def callback(message):
    print(f"Received: {message.data}")

node.subscribe(StringMsg, "/chatter", callback)

Configure transport​

  • Default backend: ZeroMQ — no extra config required.
  • Zenoh backend: export GZ_TRANSPORT_IMPLEMENTATION=zenoh (install with [zenoh]).
  • Discovery override: GZ_PUBLISHER_ADDRESS=tcp://<ip>:<port> to bypass multicast discovery when running inside Docker or across networks.

What’s inside​

  • Pub/sub messaging with automatic discovery
  • Topic listing utilities (Node.topic_list())
  • Gazebo-compatible protobuf messages bundled with the package
  • Example scripts for ZeroMQ and Zenoh transports

Tips​

  • Start subscribers before publishers to give discovery time to handshake.
  • If topics vanish after a few seconds, check multicast/firewall settings or pin the publisher with GZ_PUBLISHER_ADDRESS.
  • Use Node(verbose=True) while developing to see discovery logs.