Build your device service

Make your own devices available on NOVA to use them in projects, or offer them to be used by others via OpenAPI (opens in a new tab).

Wandelbots NOVA currently supports two connection interfaces: Ethernet and Inputs/Outputs (IOs).

Ethernet allows for connections to protocols like PROFINET, Mod-Bus, etc. The connection can be established via gateways, which map the interface to Ethernet.

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Further interfaces, e.g. USB, are currently in development. If you want to use other connection interfaces to integrate your device, send us feedback (opens in a new tab) on which device integrations should be developed next.

Structure

The following example demonstrates how to integrate a device on NOVA using a Zivid camera and the NOVAx framework.

Currently, your app can expose all endpoints. The only limitation is the capabilities of your device.

🤖

We are currently working on the definition and introduction of interfaces that will enable cross-manufacturer access to diverse device types, e.g. cameras, grippers.

Build a device service with NOVAx

Create your service using the NOVAx framework which provides OpenAPI-compliant endpoints and easy deployment to Wandelbots NOVA.

  from novax import Novax
  import uvicorn
 
  @nova.program()
  async def control_device(command: str):
      # Your device control logic here
      pass
 
  novax = Novax()
  app = novax.create_app(title="My Device Service")
  novax.include_programs_router(app)
  novax.register_program(control_device)
 
  uvicorn.run(app, host="0.0.0.0", port=8000)

If your device uses robot inputs and outputs, consult the IO integration examples (opens in a new tab) on GitHub. For controller support, see controller.py (opens in a new tab).

Build and push to your registry manually or via CI/CD rerun bridge.

Environment variables

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Ensure your app dynamically handles the base path. For example, if the service is deployed in a cell named cell and your app is called robo-app, then BASE_PATH=/cell/robo-app.

BASE_PATH: Path to the service in the NOVA environment
NOVA_API: Internal endpoint for service-to-service communication
CELL_NAME: The current deployment context

UI Recommendations

Each installed service is shown as an app on the NOVA home screen. It is therefore recommended to:

Describe your service’s OpenAPI interface
Provide a lightweight UI at the root path. This could be a Stoplight-generated interface or a minimal HTML view, for example

Deployment

Direct container registry access

Build and push your application to a container registry like Azure Container Registry. The NOVA Rerun Bridge app (opens in a new tab), for example, is automatically built and pushed to wandelbots.azurecr.io/nova-apps/nova-rerun-bridge.

External catalog system integration

You can update the external catalog through GitHub API calls, (see NOVA Rerun Bridge app (opens in a new tab)). When apps are built, they automatically trigger catalog updates via repository dispatch events to the wandelbotsgmbh/catalog repository.

Manual deployment via REST API

Deploy applications directly using the NOVA API endpoint POST /api/v2/cells/{cell}/apps (opens in a new tab) with curl or similar tools. This will provide the container image details in YAML/JSON format.

Development distribution

For development builds, the SDK provides a workflow to create installable packages directly from GitHub commits. You can install specific commits using pip with git URLs like pip install "wandelbots-nova @ git+https://github.com/wandelbotsgmbh/wandelbots-nova.git@{commit}".

Publish your app in the app store

Make your device available to other users by sharing the deployment description in the NOVA catalog (opens in a new tab). Open a Pull Request and after being reviewed, the app will be added to the catalog.

NOVA users can then download it in the NOVA app store.

Introduction Prototyping with Jupyter