Sim & hardware modes - Kovio

The SDK runs in one of two modes, set by KOVIO_MODE in /etc/kovio/kovio.env. The installer defaults to sim.

sim (default)
hardware

Synthetic foot traffic. Validates uptake, registration, and the full reporting loop on the real robot and network — without needing the camera pipeline configured. Ideal for a first install and for proving connectivity.

Live perception from the RealSense depth camera and Livox LiDAR. Use once the robot is positioned for real audiences.

curl -fsSL https://dist.kovio.dev/install.sh | sudo KOVIO_MODE=hardware bash -s -- <YOUR_FLEET_KEY>

Switching modes later

sudo sed -i 's/^KOVIO_MODE=.*/KOVIO_MODE=hardware/' /etc/kovio/kovio.env
sudo systemctl restart kovio

Start in sim to confirm the robot shows up on your dashboard, then switch to hardware once you’re confident in connectivity.