SOVD for ROS 2: the open diagnostic API standard
SOVD - Service-Oriented Vehicle Diagnostics, standardised as ISO 17978-3 - is a modern REST/HTTP diagnostic API. It came out of automotive, where a fleet of mixed ECUs needed one way to be diagnosed. The same problem now lives in robotics: every robot, PLC, and vehicle speaks something different.
SOVD gives all of them one diagnostic interface - faults, live values, operations, and configuration over plain HTTP, that any tool or AI agent can call.
What SOVD gives you
One REST surface
Faults, live data, operations, and configuration of every component behind one HTTP API - no bespoke protocol per system.
Structured faults
Faults carry a code, severity, status, and a freeze-frame of the state around them, instead of a wall of log text.
Entity model
Robots, subsystems, PLCs, and ECUs are addressable as a tree of components and apps, so tools and agents navigate them the same way.
Tool and agent ready
Because it is just REST, a web UI, a dashboard, your own scripts, or an AI agent over MCP all read the same diagnostic plane.
One standard across the stack
SOVD is not ROS-specific. A production line is rarely one technology: ROS 2 robots over DDS, PLCs over OPC-UA, classic ECUs over UDS/DoIP. SOVD sits in front of all of them and normalises each into the same entity-and-fault model, so the PLC fault and the robot it stranded land in one place.
That is the difference from observability. Observability tells you a metric moved. SOVD is built to act on it: trigger an operation, read a freeze-frame, push a configuration, gate an update on device health.
How selfpatch implements SOVD
ros2_medkit is the open-source (Apache 2.0) SOVD gateway for ROS 2. Point it at your graph and it discovers every node and exposes them as a SOVD API, with a web UI and an MCP adapter, shipped in the official ROS 2 distribution for Jazzy and Humble. Medkit Pro and the Diagnostics Box extend the same gateway to PLCs, ECUs, fleets, and safe OTA.
Explore MedkitGo deeper
Your ROS 2 Robot Deserves Real Diagnostics (SOVD)
Your robot stops. You SSH in and get a wall of text. SOVD replaces this with a REST API, structured faults, and diagnostic snapshots.
Unified PLC and ROS 2 Diagnostics with ros2_medkit
Bridge PLCs into ros2_medkit via OPC-UA. PLC faults trigger the same SOVD lifecycle as ROS 2 nodes - with AI diagnosis in 30 seconds.
Multi-ECU OTA Through SOVD: One Endpoint, Every Update Backend
Three ECUs, three firmware stacks, one REST call. How the SOVD plugin pattern coordinates updates across heterogeneous controllers with a single /updates lifecycle.
VDA 5050 + SOVD: Fleet Coordination Meets Deep Diagnostics
VDA 5050 tells the fleet manager the robot stopped. SOVD tells the engineer why. How we bridged both standards on one robot.
Frequently asked questions
SOVD, ROS 2 diagnostics, OTA, and how selfpatch fits.
- What is SOVD?
- SOVD (Service-Oriented Vehicle Diagnostics, ISO 17978-3) is a modern REST/HTTP diagnostic standard. Instead of low-level legacy protocols, it exposes faults, live data, operations, and configuration as one uniform web API that any tool, dashboard, or AI agent can call.
- What is ros2_medkit?
- ros2_medkit is the open-source (Apache 2.0) diagnostic gateway from selfpatch for ROS 2. It discovers your node graph and exposes every entity behind one SOVD REST API, with a web UI and an MCP adapter, and ships in the official ROS 2 distribution for Jazzy and Humble.
- How does selfpatch diagnose a ROS 2 robot?
- It runs as a gateway in front of your ROS 2 graph, pinpoints the failing node, captures a freeze-frame of the state around the fault, and ranks likely root causes against past incidents - no SSH sessions or log archaeology.
- Does it work with PLCs and non-ROS systems?
- Yes. The open core bridges PLCs over OPC-UA into the same API, and Medkit Pro adds UDS/DoIP ECUs and custom protocol bridges, so robots, PLCs, and vehicles read through one diagnostic interface.
- How does safe OTA work?
- Updates are cryptographically signed, gated on live device health from the diagnostic layer, staged across the fleet, and rolled back automatically if the health gate fails - so a bad update cannot take a shift of robots down.
- Is selfpatch open source?
- The core, ros2_medkit, is open source under Apache 2.0 and free to use. Medkit Pro and the Diagnostics Box are commercial layers that add more protocols, secure OTA, fleet view, and guided triage on top of the same core.
- Does my data leave my infrastructure?
- No. selfpatch runs on-prem and air-gapped, with role-based access control and no external model calls. Diagnostic data, faults, and the knowledge base stay on your infrastructure.
See selfpatch on your fleet
Tell us about your stack. We'll show you how the diagnostic layer fits - and which of your recurring faults it could already resolve.