Create A Robot Skill

Synthiam ARC is the primary distribution channel for sensors, cloud services, and peripherals used by robot builders. Our platform serves a wide range of customers — research and development teams creating proofs of concept, DIY hobbyists, enterprises, manufacturers, and educational institutions. ARC is designed to simplify complex technologies so builders can rapidly prototype, iterate, and adopt new capabilities.

Get Robot Builders Using Your Product

Join the Synthiam ecosystem as a Technology Creator to make your product available as a Robot Skill in the ARC Skill Store. This lets robot builders integrate your hardware or service as a modular component in their projects, expanding your reach to an active and growing community.

How do you make a Robot Skill?

Use this guide to package and publish sensors, cloud services, or peripheral products as Robot Skills in the Skill Store. Once published, skills can be purchased and added to ARC projects so robot builders can use them immediately.

Overview of the process

• Define the skill's behavior and communication interfaces.
• Create the control package with the required metadata and assets.
• Test the skill in an ARC project until it performs reliably.
• Publish the skill in the Skill Store for distribution and sales.

What is a Robot Skill?

If you are new to ARC, review the Robot Skills overview to understand how skills are added to a robot project and how their communication model works. Robot Skills are modular controls that encapsulate a specific capability or behavior, making it simple to compose complex systems from reusable parts.

ARC applications are assembled from Robot Skill Controls. Each skill behaves like an independent process or node and exposes inputs, outputs, and configuration options. Common examples include camera controls, speech recognition, and machine learning integrations. Use the "Add Skill" option in the Project tab to include skills in a workspace.

By combining multiple skills, robots can perform advanced, coordinated tasks. Skills come in two main types:

1. Built-In Robot Skills — Developed by Synthiam, included with ARC, and not removable.
2. Plugin Robot Skills — Developed by third parties and can be added or removed via the Synthiam Skill Store.

The image below shows an example ARC project with multiple Robot Skill Controls. Each control performs a distinct function. Advanced users can include as many skills as needed, limited primarily by the host PC's resources. For more details, read the full Robot Skills overview.

ARC Stack Overview

The stack diagram illustrates how core ARC components interact with skills, devices, and cloud services. Understanding this architecture helps when designing skills that integrate cleanly with ARC's messaging and lifecycle model.

Alright — Let's Do It!

The following sections provide step-by-step resources to begin building a Robot Skill for distribution: example code, templates, testing tips, and publishing best practices. Use the side navigation to follow the process in order and reference the examples as you build and validate your skill.