LLM agents write the control code. A bytecode VM executes it. A trust engine decides if it's safe.
NEXUS is a distributed intelligence platform for industrial marine robotics where LLM agents — not humans — are the primary authors of control code. Agents synthesize intent into bytecode, which runs on a deterministic VM embedded on ESP32-S3 microcontrollers, while AI cognition and trust-based safety enforcement run on edge GPUs (Jetson Orin Nano).
The key insight: instead of hand-coding every control loop, NEXUS lets LLM agents express intent (e.g., "maintain 2m depth, avoid obstacles, surface if battery < 15%"), which is compiled into verified bytecode and executed with hardware-enforced safety guarantees.
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ INTENT │ │ BYTECODE │ │ SAFETY CHECK │ │ EXECUTION │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ "Maintain │ │ LOAD_CONST │ │ ✓ Validator │ │ ESP32-S3 VM │
│ depth │──│ READ_IO │──│ ✓ Watchdog │──│ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ │
│ at 2m" │ │ CMP │ │ ✓ Trust gate │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤ │
│ │ │ JNZ dive │ │ ✓ Kill switch │ │ └─┘ └─┘ │
└──────────┘ └──────────────┘ └────────────────┘ └──────────────┘
LLM Agent Reflex Compiler 4-Tier Safety Real-time HW
| Problem | NEXUS Answer |
|---|---|
| Hand-coded control loops don't scale across 50+ board types | LLM-authored bytecode — write intent once, deploy everywhere |
| LLM-generated code is unreliable for safety-critical systems | Deterministic VM — only 32 verified opcodes, no dynamic memory, cycle-exact |
| Multi-agent fleets need cooperation without a central controller | INCREMENTS trust engine — mathematically grounded, multi-dimensional trust |
| Marine environments destroy electronics | 4-tier safety architecture — hardware kill switch → firmware ISR → supervisory heartbeat → application trust gate |
| Fleet heterogeneity makes coordination impossible | 3-tier architecture — ESP32 for real-time, Jetson for cognition, Cloud for training |
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Tier 3: CLOUD ║
║ Heavy model training, fleet management, mission planning ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ ║
║ │ Training │ │ Fleet Mgmt │ │ Digital Twin │ ║
║ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬───────┘ └────────┬─────────┘ ║
╠═════════╪════════════════╪════════════════════╪═════════════════════╣
║ Tier 2: JETSON (Edge GPU) ║
║ AI inference, reflex synthesis, trust engine, swarm coordination ║
║ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ ║
║ │ Vision │ │ Trust Eng │ │ Swarm │ │ Reflex Compiler│ ║
║ └────┬─────┘ └─────┬──────┘ └────┬─────┘ └───────┬────────┘ ║
╠══════╪═════════════╪══════════════╪════════════════╪════════════════╣
║ Tier 1: ESP32-S3 (Microcontroller) ║
║ Bytecode VM, real-time sensor/actuator control, safety enforcement ║
║ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ ║
║ │ 32-op VM │ │ Wire Proto │ │ Safety │ │ Sensor/Act DRV │ ║
║ └──────────┘ └────────────┘ └──────────┘ └────────────────┘ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
# Install (editable mode)
cd /tmp/nexus-runtime
pip install -e .
# Verify installation
python -c "import nexus; print(f'NEXUS {nexus.__version__}')"
# Run all tests
python -m pytest --tb=short -q
# Hardware discovery (no hardware required)
python -c "from hardware import total_board_count, list_platforms; \
print(f'{total_board_count()} boards across {len(list_platforms())} platforms')"
# Try an example
python examples/bytecode_playground.pyNEXUS ships with pre-configured deployment profiles for 11 platform families spanning microcontrollers, edge GPUs, and single-board computers:
| Platform | Boards | Architecture |
|---|---|---|
| Arduino | Uno, Mega, Nano, Due, MKR WiFi 1010, Nano 33 IoT | ATmega328P / AT91SAM3X8E / SAMD21 |
| ESP32 | Classic, S3, C3, C6, H2 | Xtensa LX6 / RISC-V |
| ESP8266 | ESP-12E NodeMCU, Wemos D1 Mini | Xtensa L106 |
| NVIDIA Jetson | Nano, TX2, Xavier NX, Orin Nano, Orin NX, AGX Orin | ARM A57/A72 + Maxwell/Pascal/Volta/Ampere GPU |
| Raspberry Pi | Zero W, 3B+, 4B, 400, 5, CM4, Pico 2 | ARM Cortex-A53/A76 / RP2350 |
| STM32 | F4, F7, G0, L4, WL, H7, MP1 | ARM Cortex-M0+/M4/M7/A7 |
| Nordic nRF | 52810, 52832, 52840, 5340 | ARM Cortex-M4/M33 + BLE/Bluetooth Mesh |
| Teensy | 3.6, 4.0, 4.1 | NXP i.MX RT1062 / K66 |
| i.MX RT | 1050, 1060, 1064, 1170 | ARM Cortex-M7 (600MHz-1GHz) |
| RP2040 | Pico, Pico W | ARM Cortex-M0+ + PIO |
| BeagleBone | Black, AI-64 | ARM Cortex-A8/A15 + DSP + PRU |
| Module | Description |
|---|---|
nexus.vm |
32-opcode bytecode VM with assembler, disassembler, and validator |
nexus.trust |
INCREMENTS multi-dimensional trust engine |
nexus.wire |
COBS/CRC-16 framed wire protocol |
nexus.aab |
Autonomous Agent Behavior codec and roles |
nexus.bridge |
Git-based bytecode deployment bridge |
nexus.orchestrator |
Fleet orchestration and coordination |
| Category | Modules |
|---|---|
| Cognition | vision, sensor_fusion, decision_engine, nl_commands |
| Cooperation | swarm, fleet_coordination, cooperative_perception, trust |
| Autonomy | adaptive_autonomy, self_healing, reflex, agent_runtime |
| Maritime | maritime_domain, navigation, mission, compliance |
| Infrastructure | energy, maintenance, security, performance, data_pipeline |
| Observability | explainability (XAI), knowledge_graph, digital_twin, runtime_verification |
| Learning | rl, learning, marketplace, mpc |
Pre-configured deployment profiles with pin maps, clock configs, and peripheral drivers for all supported boards.
ESP-IDF C project for ESP32-S3: VM interpreter, wire protocol, safety state machine, sensor/actuator drivers.
| Range | Category | Opcodes |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00-0x01 | Control Flow | NOP, LOAD_CONST |
| 0x02-0x03 | Memory | LOAD_REG, STORE_REG |
| 0x04-0x07 | Arithmetic | ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV |
| 0x08-0x0D | Bitwise | AND, OR, XOR, NOT, SHL, SHR |
| 0x0E | Compare | CMP |
| 0x0F-0x13 | Branch | JMP, JZ, JNZ, CALL, RET |
| 0x14-0x15 | Stack | PUSH, POP |
| 0x16-0x17 | I/O | READ_IO, WRITE_IO |
| 0x18-0x19 | System | HALT, SLEEP |
| 0x1A-0x1B | Comms | SEND, RECV |
| 0x1C-0x1F | Memory Mgmt | ALLOC, FREE, DMA_COPY, INTERRUPT |
Agent-to-agent opcodes for intent broadcasting, capability negotiation, safety augmentation, and cooperative perception fusion. These opcodes are interpreted at the Jetson tier; on ESP32 they execute as NOPs.
Safety is non-negotiable. NEXUS implements a four-tier defense-in-depth model:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TIER 1: HARDWARE │
│ Kill switch • Watchdog IC • Polyfuses • Power rails │
│ Response time: <1us │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ TIER 2: FIRMWARE (ESP32-S3) │
│ ISR guard • Safe-state outputs • Stack canary │
│ Response time: <1ms │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ TIER 3: SUPERVISORY (Jetson) │
│ Heartbeat monitoring • State machine • Watchdog daemon │
│ Response time: <100ms │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ TIER 4: APPLICATION │
│ Trust-score-gated autonomy (L0-L5) • Bytecode validation │
│ Response time: <1s │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- L0 — Manual control only, all automation disabled
- L1 — Assisted mode, human approves every action
- L2 — Supervised autonomy, human can veto
- L3 — Conditional autonomy, trust-score-gated
- L4 — High autonomy, fleet cooperation enabled
- L5 — Full autonomy, emergency-only human intervention
| Example | Description |
|---|---|
examples/bytecode_playground.py |
Assemble and execute bytecode in the VM emulator |
examples/trust_scenario.py |
INCREMENTS trust between 5 AUV agents |
examples/flocking_simulation.py |
10-agent Reynolds flocking simulation |
examples/hardware_discovery.py |
Explore the hardware catalog |
We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines. All contributions are subject to our Code of Conduct. For security concerns, see SECURITY.md.
MIT — Copyright (c) 2025 NEXUS Project
