Build | Design smart machines

Viam Build is open-source tooling for building smart machines faster and more efficiently.

Through a flexible modular system built on standardized APIs and SDKs in the most popular programming languages, Viam Build removes technical barriers to creating new machines, frees up developers to focus on what makes their machines stand out, and opens up possibilities to apply automation to a wider range of industries and activities.

Simplifying smart machine creation

Viam Build makes programming smart machines as intuitive as programming web applications. It uses standardized APIs to abstract common hardware components and software packages for adding complex capabilities, enabling complete machine configuration from within the Viam application's user interface.

A diagram showing how you can use the Viam platform to build and configure a smart machine

Install viam-server on your computer to configure a machine’s components and services and connect it to the Viam cloud.

Add any component to your machine as needed - swap out as you configure and test.

Software packages can be added to your machine as services that provide complex capabilities such as computer vision or SLAM.

BENEFITS

Build and iterate on smart machines faster

Open-source software that streamlines smart machine design

Build smart machines using any programming language, hardware, or existing software. Once you deploy viam-server on your machine, a unified and extensible API layer simplifies developing software across many different hardware components and services for an experience similar to a mobile or web application.

Built-in smart machine cloud connection to accelerate development

Viam Build integrates seamlessly with Viam’s cloud backend to instantly enable a host of services to manage your smart machines, including fleet and data management, analytics, ML model training and deployment, and teleoperation.

Flexibility to iterate and prototype rapidly

Whether you are building a machine from scratch or adding a new component over the top, Viam’s pluggable, modular architecture makes it easy to configure new functionality and customize machines on the fly, allowing for quick testing and iteration to optimize performance.

FEATURES

All you need to make your machine concept real

Simple configuration and iteration

Easily set up and swap out hardware components and services with no code changes through the Viam application’s user interface.

Unified & extensible APIs bring smart machines to life

Quickly write software against simple APIs to add hardware components and services to smart machines, with no need for bespoke code or patchwork customization.

SDKs for coding in any language

Write code in any language you are comfortable using to control smart machines, including Python, Go, Typescript, Flutter, and many more.

Micro-RDK for microcontrollers and edge devices

A stripped-down version of Viam software can be used to build machines on resource-limited embedded systems.

Secure, built-in communication protocols with the cloud

Viam handles all communication through gRPC and WebRTC to safely keep smart machines connected to the cloud, other smart machines, and other components within the same machine.

Easily add any component or service you need to your machine

Modular resources allow any developer to build a custom component or service which, once configured, behaves identically to Viam’s wide range of built-in common resources.

Use cases

Building a smart-machine-centered business

Continuous iteration and testing for new machine features

Everyday smart machines and devices

Automation of tedious or dangerous tasks

Making any machine smart by adding sensors or cameras

The power of a
unified platform

Viam Build is part of a holistic platform that removes the need for complex integrations of various point solutions. Combining Viam Build with other solutions in the Viam platform lowers costs and streamlines your smart machine operations.

Viam Registry

Our community registry allows developers to create, program, co-develop, improve, and share components and services on a marketplace maintained by Viam.

Viam Mobility

Once you have built a smart machine you can move it around with built-in services such as motion planning, SLAM, and computer vision.

Viam Fleet

Manage fleets of machines, control them remotely, and keep them secure with locations, organizations, and permissions.

Dexai case study: customizing a
robot for restaurants

Dexai used Viam’s modular component architecture and built-in services to develop a robot sous chef named Alfred, accelerating development into a matter of days and building flexibility into their robotic system design.

“Instead of having to spend months building a custom solution, we could just grab components off the shelf that Viam had already developed. And that lets us focus on what we're really good at, which is teaching robots how to make food.”

David Johnson, CEO, DEXAI

READ THE CASE STUDY

Further resources

Tutorials - Start building a smart machine now

Start making something with Viam! The whole principle behind Viam is that we want it to be easy for you to get started, so dive right in and get to know the platform.

Read the tutorials →

Case Study - Building a beer pouring robot

Hop Robotics uses Viam to automate quality assurance imaging for their beverage dispensing robot, with the ultimate goal of scaling prototyping and production.

Watch the video →

Case Study - Using Viam to make beehives smart

Using Viam’s integrated data management and fleet management has saved Bee-Ring over four months of development time on their smart beehives