Key Concepts¶

This page explains the terms you meet everywhere in Sodero Cloud: workspaces and projects, Robot Systems and Robot Worlds, activation, Studio and Theater, and the parts of a Station. Read it once before the Quick Start.

Workspaces and Projects¶

flowchart TB
    subgraph WS ["Workspace: people, plan, credits"]
        subgraph P ["Project: files and the people who can open them"]
            A["Robot System A<br>Stellar Station"] -- "simulation gateway" --> W["Robot World<br>simulated in the cloud"]
            B["Robot System B<br>Stellar Station"] -- "simulation gateway" --> W
        end
    end

Term	What it is
Workspace	Where a team works together: its people, its projects, its plan and its credits. You can belong to several workspaces (Workspaces and People).
Project	Robot Systems and Robot Worlds that belong together, and the people who can open them (Projects)
Robot System	A project file that is one Stellar Station ("the Station"): the robot system's nodes, documents, settings and apps
Robot World	A project file that holds a simulated place: a USD scene with the ground, the lighting, objects and robots

A project can hold several Robot Worlds, but only one of them can be active at a time. Any number of Robot Systems can be active, within your plan's limit of Systems and Worlds running at once, and they all drive robots in that World (How Robot Worlds and Robot Systems Work Together).

Activate and Run¶

Each Robot System and Robot World has its own environment in the cloud. Two columns on the project page control it, and they are separate steps:

Column	States	What it does
Activation	Inactive, Active	Activate brings the environment up: a Station restores its saved data, a World loads its saved scene. Deactivate releases it.
Running	Stopped, Running	Run starts what is in an active environment: the Station's nodes, the World's simulation. Stop stops them; the environment stays active.

Credits. An active file uses your workspace's credits for every minute it is active, whether or not anything runs in it. Stop does not end that; Deactivate does. Studio and Theater sessions can use credits too, depending on their rendering mode (Billing and Usage).
Auto off. An active file that nobody has used for 30 minutes is deactivated automatically, unless an editor has cleared its Auto off box. A Station counts as used while someone has it open or works with it through an AI agent or the Project VPN; a World, while someone watches it in Theater.

Details: Activate and Run.

Studio and Theater¶

Tool	For	Opens while the World is
Studio	Building the World: bring in scenes and Sodero Assets, arrange objects, set mass and joint poses, save (Studio)	Inactive
Theater	Watching the running World: select robots and see the Station that drives each one (Theater)	Active

Both ask first for a rendering mode. RTX Real-time draws the World on a cloud GPU; WebGPU draws it in your browser with your computer's GPU. The mode changes only how you see the World: the simulation is the same for everyone (Choose Rendering Mode).

Inside a Robot System: the Station¶

A Station is a graph of nodes. Each node is one program, such as a gateway, a robot controller, a navigation component or a module of your own. Add node offers four types:

Type	Purpose
Gateway	Connects simulation or hardware to the system
Controller	Defines a robot unit and its control
Compound	Combines several robot units into one system
Application	Defines robot behaviors and task logic

Every node runs an app. Sodero's apps come from the Station's Store; your own module packages are added on Modules. A new Robot System can start with a bundle of apps, its Starting apps (Apps and Packages).

The IDs of Sodero's nodes start with sodero.. Most of them end with a name you choose, usually the robot's:

Node	ID
Actuator gateway	`sodero.actuator_gateway.<name>`
Camera gateway	`sodero.camera_gateway.<name>`
Mobile base controller	`sodero.mlc.<name>`
Manipulator controller (Motion Studio)	`sodero.mmc.<name>`
Articulated robot controller (Articulation)	`sodero.amc.<name>`
Strider, the operator UI of a mobile base	`sodero.strider`
Localizer, Navigator	`sodero.icp_localizer`, `sodero.navigator`

Ports¶

Nodes work together through ports. Each node card lists REQUIRES, the services the node needs, and PROVIDES, the services it offers. You connect a required port to a matching provided port; the Station refuses ports that do not match. A mobile robot such as Jackal uses two connections:

flowchart TB
    S["Strider<br>sodero.strider"] -- "mobile_base" --> M["Mobile base controller<br>sodero.mlc.jackal"]
    M -- "servo_link" --> G["Actuator gateway<br>sodero.actuator_gateway.jackal"]
    G -- "robot name jackal" --> W["Robot World<br>robot /World/jackal"]

Requires	Provides	Meaning
Controller `servo_link`	Actuator gateway `servo_link`	The controller drives the gateway's actuators
Strider `mobile_base`	Mobile base controller `mobile_base`	Strider operates this mobile base

See Build the Graph.

Gateways and Documents¶

A gateway is the only node that talks to actuators; controllers send their commands through it. In Sodero Cloud, a simulation gateway drives a robot in the project's World. On Stellar X, an EtherCAT gateway drives real drives; the controllers work the same way, in the Station release that the device runs (Compatibility).

Gateways and controllers are configured by design documents, which you upload into the node's Parameters (Documents and Settings):

File	Node	Contents
`.gw`	Actuator gateway	Hardware type and actuators
`.sdd`	`sodero.mmc`	Manipulator: kinematics, dynamics, actuator mapping
`.sddm`	`sodero.mlc`	Mobile base: drive type, wheels, limits, actuator mapping
`.sdda`	`sodero.amc`	Articulated robot: joints and actuator mapping

Names must match. A simulation gateway finds its robot in the World by name. The Robot name of the gateway node must be exactly the name of the robot's prim in the World, for example jackal for /World/jackal. With another name, the robot never moves. See Connect to the World.

Glossary¶

Term	Meaning
Workspace	A team's space in the portal: people, projects, plan and credits
Project	Robot Systems and Robot Worlds that belong together, and who can open them
Robot System	A project file that is one Stellar Station
Stellar Station	The application that runs a robot system as a graph of nodes. Stellar X runs it too, in the device's own release.
Robot World	A project file with a simulated place and the robots in it
Studio	The World editor
Theater	The live view of an active World
Activate, Deactivate	Bring a file's environment up, or release it
Run, Stop	Start or stop what runs in an active environment
Auto off	Deactivates a file that nobody has used for 30 minutes
Credits	What active files and rendering sessions use, from your workspace's plan
RTX Real-time, WebGPU	The rendering modes: on a cloud GPU, or on your computer's GPU
Node	One program in the Station, such as a gateway, a controller or a module of your own
Port	A connection point of a node: REQUIRES (needs) or PROVIDES (offers)
Gateway	A node that connects controllers to actuators or sensors, simulated or real
Controller	A node that controls a robot unit, such as a mobile base or a manipulator
Design document	The configuration of a gateway or a robot controller: `.gw`, `.sdd`, `.sddm`, `.sdda`
App	A package from the Store that a node runs
Robot name	The name of a robot's prim in the World, set on the simulation gateway node that drives it
`.sdr`	A Sodero file that holds one Robot System or one Robot World
Sodero Assets	Robots, environments and documents published by Sodero

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