Reserve a Viam Rover

Try Viam is a way to try out the Viam platform without setting up any hardware yourself. You can take over a Viam Rover in our robotics lab to play around!

Watch this tutorial video for a walkthrough of Try Viam, including how to reserve a Viam Rover, navigate the Viam platform, and drive the rover:

Using the reservation system

Create a reservation

1. Click on the “TRY VIAM” button in the Viam app.

   Log in to Viam and click on the TRY VIAM button in the top navigation bar. If you don’t have an account, it only takes a minute to sign up.

2. Click “TRY NOW” or “RESERVE ROVER” to reserve your slot.

   The Try Viam landing page displays the Next time slot or Estimated Time to Start and other status information. If no one is using a Viam Rover, you’ll take over immediately. Otherwise, you’ll see an estimated time for the next slot on the TRY tab. If your reserved time slot is more than 30 minutes away, we’ll send you an email confirming your reservation and an email when it’s your turn to use the rover.

   When it is your turn to take over a Viam Rover, the page will show that it is configuring your rover. Once that is complete, you can click TRY MY ROVER to access your rented Viam Rover.

   Info

   Viam creates a location called “Rover Rental” in your account’s organization, and adds a Viam Rover with a basic config and a random name (like “wispy-shape”) as a machine in this location.

3. Click “TRY MY ROVER” to use your Viam Rover.

   You’ll be able to control a Viam Rover in the Viam robotics lab for 10 minutes. There is a session timer in the top banner.

Access your rover rental

Once your reservation starts and the system has configured your rover, click TRY MY ROVER from the TRY VIAM page or, if you were queuing, click Take Me to My Rover in the confirmation email.

Limitations

When using a rented Viam rover, adding modules is disabled for security purposes.

Extend your reservation

During your rental, if the next time slot is open, you can click Extend at the top of the page in the control bar. If the option is not available, that means there is another reservation waiting. You must do this before your session ends to reset the timer. Once your session has ended, you can no longer access this option, but the robot’s final configuration will remain in your account. You can always create a new reservation and reuse the configuration to experience Try Viam again.

Cancel my reservation/session

Click Cancel in the top control banner to release your queued reservation or to immediately end your active session.

Next steps

You can also ask questions in the Community Discord and we will be happy to help.