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RCAN Protocol Specification

Version 3.2.2 — Stable

This is the RCAN (Robot Communication and Autonomy Network) protocol specification. It defines robot addressing, authentication, message formats, discovery, safety invariants, configuration schemas, autonomous behaviors, AI accountability requirements, EU AI Act compliance sections, and the multi-runtime agent declaration.

For the live compatibility matrix and SDK version status, see rcan.dev/compatibility.


Table of Contents

§ Title
§1 Robot URI (RURI)
§2 Role-Based Access Control
§3 Message Format
§4 Discovery (mDNS)
§5 Authentication
§6 Safety Invariants
§7 Federation
§8 Robot Config (RCAN File)
§9 Capabilities
§10 Autonomous Navigation
§11 Behavior Scripts
§12 Depth & Sensing
§13 Telemetry Streaming
§14 Provider Management
§15 Swarm Coordination
§16 AI Accountability
§17 Distributed Registry Node Protocol
§18 Capability Advertisement Protocol
§19 Behavior/Skill Invocation Protocol
§20 Telemetry Field Registry
§21 Robot Registry Integration
§22 Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment
§23 Safety Benchmark Protocol
§24 Instructions for Use
§25 Post-Market Monitoring
§26 EU Register Submission
§27 FRIA Protocol

Appendices and Auxiliary Pages

Page Description
Appendix B WebSocket Transport Binding
Authority Regulatory Authority Access Protocol
Competitions Fleet Competition Protocol
Credits Castor Credits — Idle Compute Contribution
Firmware Firmware Attestation
SBOM Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)

Historical Snapshots

Historical version snapshots are available on the apex site at rcan.dev/spec/.