Supported Platforms and Compatibility
Rover Nexus is vendor-agnostic: any robot that can run the agent on Linux and speak the messaging contract can join a fleet.
What you need to integrate
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Linux host | The agent runs on a Linux computer on the robot. The exact supported distributions and CPU architectures (arm64/x86_64) are coming soon. |
| Robot software interface | A native/custom controller that speaks the Zenoh Cap'n Proto contract directly (the primary surface) or over an optional Unix domain socket, a ROS 2 stack integrated via the ROS 2 Bridge, or a copper-rs graph integrated via the Copper Bridge. |
| Cameras (optional) | V4L2 cameras for teleop video. |
| Network | Outbound connectivity from the agent to the Rover Nexus cloud over mTLS. |
| Capabilities | A declared set of services/capabilities (e.g. a Mow service) so the cloud can match missions to the robot. |
Native vs. ROS 2 vs. copper-rs
- Native/custom robots publish and subscribe the local Zenoh topics directly, using the primary, native surface. See Custom Integrations.
- ROS 2 robots use
rover_ros2_bridge, which translates ROS 2 (DDS) topics to and from the same Cap'n Proto messages over a Unix domain socket. See the ROS 2 Bridge. - copper-rs robots use
rovernexus-cu-components.NexusBridgeis a Copper bridge component in your graph that maps Copper pins to and from the same Cap'n Proto messages over local Zenoh. See the Copper Bridge. - A REST API for cloud-side integrations is coming soon (not yet available).
The public ROS 2 bridge targets ROS 2 Jazzy on Ubuntu 24.04. The public Copper bridge targets copper-rs (cu29) 1.1.x on Linux. Contact [email protected] for other distributions.
Heterogeneous fleets
Rover Nexus is designed for mixed fleets. Because every robot exposes the same messaging contract and a declared capability set, the cloud can operate robots from different vendors side by side:
- Robots advertise what they can do (capabilities), not what they are.
- Missions and operations are matched by capability, so a mowing mission can target
any robot that advertises the
Mowservice regardless of make or model. - Some capabilities may declare a required role for who can invoke them. See Capabilities.
Constraints
- Linux only. Camera access is via V4L2.
- The agent prioritizes realtime operation and stability.