{"slug": "building-a-robot-diagnostics-dashboard-with-kotlin-and-compose", "title": "Building a Robot Diagnostics Dashboard with Kotlin and Compose", "summary": "A developer published a tutorial showing how to build a Kotlin/Jetpack Compose diagnostics dashboard for robotics and Physical AI systems, using StateFlow and a ViewModel/Repository architecture to stream battery, temperature, CPU, GPU and connection telemetry from a ROS 2, Jetson or AI backend. The design keeps hardware-specific code behind interfaces so the Android layer stays maintainable, flags stale data after a 3-second message timeout, and supports exporting structured event logs for support while avoiding sensitive information.", "body_md": "In this tutorial, you will build a practical Kotlin/Android component for a robotics or Physical AI system. The design emphasizes asynchronous processing, lifecycle-aware state, real-time data handling, observability, and safe separation between the Android interface and physical robot control.\n\n```\nAndroid Kotlin + Jetpack Compose\n             ↓\n       ViewModel / Flow\n             ↓\n      Repository / API\n             ↓\n   ROS 2 / Jetson / AI Backend\n             ↓\n        Robot System\ndata class Diagnostics(\n    val connected: Boolean,\n    val battery: Float,\n    val temperature: Float,\n    val cpu: Float,\n    val gpu: Float,\n    val lastMessageMs: Long\n)\nprivate val _diagnostics =\n    MutableStateFlow(Diagnostics(false, 0f, 0f, 0f, 0f, 0))\n@Composable\nfun DiagnosticCard(title: String, value: String) {\n    Card {\n        Column(Modifier.padding(12.dp)) {\n            Text(title)\n            Text(value)\n        }\n    }\n}\nval stale =\n    System.currentTimeMillis() - state.lastMessageMs > 3000\n```\n\nStore structured events such as connection changes, model failures, sensor errors, and watchdog activations.\n\nFor production systems, allow diagnostics to be exported for support and debugging, while avoiding sensitive information.\n\n`StateFlow` for observable UI state.\nThe resulting Kotlin layer can be extended with real ROS 2 bridges, NVIDIA Jetson services, computer vision models, smart-glasses SDKs, or multimodal AI backends. Keep hardware-specific code behind interfaces so the Android application remains maintainable as the robotics stack evolves.\n\nWebsite: [www.v-modal.com](http://www.v-modal.com)\n\nSDK Flutter: [https://github.com/v-modal/vmodal_sdk_flutter](https://github.com/v-modal/vmodal_sdk_flutter)\n\nSDK Android: [https://github.com/v-modal/vmodal_sdk_android](https://github.com/v-modal/vmodal_sdk_android)\n\nDiscord: [https://discord.gg/K72z28KUx](https://discord.gg/K72z28KUx)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-robot-diagnostics-dashboard-with-kotlin-and-compose", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/vmodal_ai/building-a-robot-diagnostics-dashboard-with-kotlin-and-compose-2mlp", "published_at": "2026-09-25 20:31:40+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-25 21:00:35.801990+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["robotics", "ai-infrastructure", "developer-tools", "mlops"], "entities": ["Kotlin", "Jetpack Compose", "ROS 2", "NVIDIA Jetson", "V-Modal"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-robot-diagnostics-dashboard-with-kotlin-and-compose", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-robot-diagnostics-dashboard-with-kotlin-and-compose.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-robot-diagnostics-dashboard-with-kotlin-and-compose.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-robot-diagnostics-dashboard-with-kotlin-and-compose.jsonld"}}