diff --git a/src/rai_core/rai/tools/ros2/generic/topics.py b/src/rai_core/rai/tools/ros2/generic/topics.py
index ad4a1cb67..1b2a8252a 100644
--- a/src/rai_core/rai/tools/ros2/generic/topics.py
+++ b/src/rai_core/rai/tools/ros2/generic/topics.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 from rai.communication.ros2.api.conversion import ros2_message_to_dict
 from rai.messages import MultimodalArtifact, preprocess_image
 from rai.tools.ros2.base import BaseROS2Tool, BaseROS2Toolkit
+from rai.tools.timeout import require_positive_timeout
 from rai.tools.ros2.generic.interface_parser import render_interface_string
 
 
@@ -112,6 +113,7 @@ class ReceiveROS2MessageTool(BaseROS2Tool):
     def _run(self, topic: str, timeout_sec: float = 1.0) -> str:
         if not self.is_readable(topic):
             raise ValueError(f"Topic {topic} is not readable")
+        timeout_sec = require_positive_timeout(timeout_sec)
         message = self.connector.receive_message(topic, timeout_sec=timeout_sec)
         return str({"payload": message.payload, "metadata": message.metadata})
 
@@ -133,6 +135,7 @@ def _run(
     ) -> Tuple[str, MultimodalArtifact]:
         if not self.is_readable(topic):
             raise ValueError(f"Topic {topic} is not readable")
+        timeout_sec = require_positive_timeout(timeout_sec)
         message = self.connector.receive_message(topic, timeout_sec=timeout_sec)
         msg_type = type(message.payload)
         if msg_type == Image:
@@ -264,6 +267,7 @@ class GetROS2TransformTool(BaseROS2Tool):
     STALE_TRANSFORM_THRESHOLD_SEC: float = 1.0
 
     def _run(self, target_frame: str, source_frame: str, timeout_sec: float) -> str:
+        timeout_sec = require_positive_timeout(timeout_sec)
         transform = self.connector.get_transform(
             target_frame=target_frame,
             source_frame=source_frame,
diff --git a/src/rai_core/rai/tools/timeout.py b/src/rai_core/rai/tools/timeout.py
index 6d814853f..af163a70b 100644
--- a/src/rai_core/rai/tools/timeout.py
+++ b/src/rai_core/rai/tools/timeout.py
@@ -159,3 +159,23 @@ def wrapper(self, *args, **kwargs):
         return wrapper
 
     return decorator
+
+
+def require_positive_timeout(timeout_sec: object, *, name: str = "timeout_sec") -> float:
+    """Validate timeout is a real positive number (bool rejected).
+
+    Returns the value as float. Raises ValueError on invalid input.
+    """
+    if timeout_sec is True or timeout_sec is False:
+        raise ValueError(f"{name} must be a positive number")
+    if isinstance(timeout_sec, int) and not isinstance(timeout_sec, bool):
+        value = float(timeout_sec)
+    elif isinstance(timeout_sec, float):
+        value = float(timeout_sec)
+    else:
+        raise ValueError(f"{name} must be a positive number")
+    if value != value:  # NaN
+        raise ValueError(f"{name} must be a positive number")
+    if value <= 0:
+        raise ValueError(f"{name} must be positive")
+    return value
diff --git a/tests/tools/test_require_positive_timeout.py b/tests/tools/test_require_positive_timeout.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..08cdfec93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/tools/test_require_positive_timeout.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2026 Robotec.AI
+#
+# 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
+#
+#         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.
+
+import math
+
+import pytest
+
+from rai.tools.timeout import require_positive_timeout
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("value", [0, -1, -0.01, True, False, "1", None, math.nan, object()])
+def test_require_positive_timeout_rejects_invalid(value):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="timeout"):
+        require_positive_timeout(value)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("value,expected", [(1, 1.0), (0.5, 0.5), (2, 2.0)])
+def test_require_positive_timeout_accepts_positive(value, expected):
+    assert require_positive_timeout(value) == expected