Traffic Management

Control where and how robots navigate with traffic zones and rules

Status: Limited Availability — Contact support to enable traffic management features.

Traffic management enables coordination of robot fleets by defining zones in your maps and assigning traffic rules. This is essential for multi-robot deployments where robots need to navigate shared spaces safely—preventing collisions, managing access to narrow corridors, and coordinating docking areas.

InOrbit provides two configuration kinds for traffic management:

• TrafficZoneType: Defines categories of zones with traffic rules and visual styles
• TrafficZone: Defines individual zones on maps with specific geometry

When to Use

• Single-occupancy areas: Narrow corridors, charging stations, or workstations where only one robot should operate at a time
• No-go zones: Areas robots must avoid entirely (e.g., restricted areas, emergency exits)
• Dynamic behaviors: Trigger actions when robots enter or leave zones (e.g., adjust speed, activate lighting)
• External integration: Use the Traffic Management API to query and control zones from external systems

Key Concepts

Built-in Traffic Rules

Two traffic rules are available out of the box:

Rule	Description
nogo	Robots are not permitted to enter the zone
soz	Single-Occupancy Zone—only one robot allowed at a time

Contact support for custom traffic rules.

Zone Events

Zones can trigger robot actions based on these events:

Event	Trigger
onEnter	Robot enters the zone
onExit	Robot leaves the zone
onOccupied	First robot enters (zone becomes occupied)
onEmpty	Last robot leaves (zone becomes empty)
onState	Zone state changes to a specific value

Zone State

Zones have an internal state that can be:

• Modified by traffic controllers (free, occupied)
• Updated via the REST API
• Used to trigger conditional styling

Traffic Zone Types

Zone types define the behavior and appearance of zone categories.

Example: Charging Zone Type

apiVersion: v0.1
kind: TrafficZoneType
metadata:
  scope: account/<accountId>
  id: charging
spec:
  label: Charging Zone
  rules:
    - soz
    - type: nogo
      options:
        priorityTags:
          tagId: 10
  style:
    color: "#66c2a5"
  conditionalStyle:
    occupied:
      color: "#e5c494"
  events:
    - type: action
      actionId: turnOnLights
      targetId: room001
      event: onEnter

Zone Type Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
label	string	Yes	Human-readable name
rules	array	No	Traffic rules to enforce
style	object	No	Default visual appearance
conditionalStyle	object	No	Style overrides based on zone state
events	array	No	Actions triggered by zone events

Traffic Rules

Rules can be specified as strings or objects with options:

rules:
  - soz                        # Simple rule
  - type: nogo                 # Rule with options
    options:
      priorityTags:
        tagId: 10              # Robots with this tag can override the rule

Style Configuration

style:
  color: "#66c2a5"             # Zone color (hex)

conditionalStyle:
  occupied:                    # Applied when state is "occupied"
    color: "#e5c494"
  free:                        # Applied when state is "free"
    color: "#a6d854"

Traffic Zones

Individual zones define specific areas on location maps.

Example: Basic Zone

apiVersion: v0.1
kind: TrafficZone
metadata:
  scope: tag/<accountId>/<locationId>
  id: chargingZone001
spec:
  label: South-West Charger
  type: charging
  frameId: map
  geometry:
    polygon:
      - x: 0
        y: 0
      - x: 1
        y: 0
      - x: 1
        y: 1
      - x: 0
        y: 1
    bufferDistance: 0.5
  events:
    - type: action
      actionId: beepbeep
      event: onEnter

Example: Zone with Robot Selector

Restrict which robots the zone applies to:

apiVersion: v0.1
kind: TrafficZone
metadata:
  scope: tag/<accountId>/<locationId>
  id: chargingZone001
spec:
  label: South-West Charger
  type: charging
  frameId: map
  robots:
    robot:
      tagIds: ["cleanerRobots"]
      ignoreTagIds: ["maintenance"]
      namePattern: "vacuum.*"
  geometry:
    polygon:
      - { x: 0, y: 0 }
      - { x: 1, y: 0 }
      - { x: 1, y: 1 }
      - { x: 0, y: 1 }

Zone Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
label	string	Yes	Human-readable name
type	string	Yes	Zone type ID (must match a TrafficZoneType)
frameId	string	Yes	Map frame identifier
geometry	object	Yes	Zone boundaries
robots	object	No	Robot selector to filter affected robots
events	array	No	Zone-specific event triggers

Geometry Configuration

geometry:
  polygon:                     # List of vertices
    - x: 0
      y: 0
    - x: 1
      y: 0
    - x: 1
      y: 1
    - x: 0
      y: 1
  bufferDistance: 0.5          # Optional: expand zone by this distance (meters)

Use the Navigation widget’s zone editor (Layers > Zones) to draw zones visually instead of manually specifying coordinates.

Robot Selector

Restrict which robots are considered for zone events and occupancy:

Field	Type	Description
robotId	string	Single robot ID
robotIds	string[]	List of robot IDs
tagIds	string[]	Robot must have all these tags
ignoreTagIds	string[]	Exclude robots with any of these tags
namePattern	string	Regex pattern for robot name

All conditions are ANDed—a robot must satisfy all specified conditions.

Event Configuration

events:
  - type: action               # Event type (only "action" supported)
    event: onEnter             # Trigger event
    actionId: slow-down        # Action to execute
    targetId: robot001         # Optional: run on specific robot/device
    arguments:                 # Optional: action arguments
      speed: 0.5

Use Cases Without Rules

Even without traffic rules, zones are useful for:

• Visual monitoring: Zones change appearance when occupied, helping operators track robot positions
• Mission logic: Use zone functions in expressions:
  isRobotInZone('dropZone') and not isZoneOccupied('armReachArea')
  
• External integration: Query zone state via REST API for WMS, fleet manager, or other system integration

Related Documentation

• Traffic Management API — REST API for zone state
• Action Definitions — Define actions for zone events
• Expressions Language — Zone functions for conditions
• Maps — Map and frame concepts