Overview
Rover Nexus connects your robot to the cloud through a lightweight on-robot agent.
The robot runs the rover-agent on a Linux computer. Your robot software exchanges messages with the agent over a local Zenoh bus using Cap'n Proto serialization. The agent relays those messages to and from the Rover Nexus cloud over mTLS (also Cap'n Proto). You never talk to the cloud directly — you talk to the agent.
See Architecture for the full picture.
The Cap'n Proto wire schema is public, and native client libraries are available for Rust, Python, and C++ — see Client Libraries.
Message directions
- Uplink (robot → cloud): telemetry, faults/events, mission feedback, detected objects. Full reference: Uplink Messages.
- Downlink (cloud → robot): mission commands, teleop, mode/velocity commands, settings, field rules, and feature/asset updates. Full reference: Command Messages.
Both reference pages share a Common Types page for geometry, values, spatial features, and enumerations.
Integration paths
Rover Nexus exposes three integration surfaces, in order of directness — Zenoh (primary), the ROS 2 Bridge, and a planned REST API. For Rust, Python, or C++ robots, a client library wraps the Zenoh surface for you.
| Path | Best for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Zenoh messaging | Native / non-ROS robots that can embed Zenoh + Cap'n Proto | Your software publishes/subscribes the local Zenoh topic contract directly. The most direct path; see Custom Integrations. |
| ROS 2 Bridge | Robots already running ROS 2 | An external bridge translates ROS 2 (DDS) topics ↔ the local Zenoh Cap'n Proto topics the agent consumes. |
| REST API (coming soon) | Cloud-side or backend integrations | A planned HTTP surface for fleet/mission data; not yet available. |
Client libraries. Native client libraries for Rust, Python, and C++ wrap the Zenoh + Cap'n Proto contract, so you don't hand-roll serialization.
How to choose
- Custom controller, no ROS 2? Implement the Zenoh topic contract directly — the primary, native surface. See Custom Integrations.
- Running ROS 2 already? Use the ROS 2 Bridge — it requires no message-level coding.
- Integrating from a server / dashboard? The REST API is coming soon; until it ships, integrate via Zenoh or the ROS 2 bridge.
What you provide
- A Linux computer on the robot to host the agent (see Supported Platforms).
- Robot configuration and declared capabilities.
- A mapping from your robot's data onto the agent's telemetry and command messages.
Next steps
- Review Supported Platforms.
- Read the Architecture.
- Configure the robot (config, capabilities, cameras).
- Wire up messaging via your chosen path.