The Bauxite Manifesto
Sovereign Infrastructure for Autonomous Systems
Most networking software was designed for servers.
Robots, industrial systems, and distributed edge devices operate under different constraints. They move between networks. They lose connectivity. They operate behind NATs. They depend on telemetry, control traffic, and machine-to-machine communication that cannot be treated as generic web traffic.
We started Bauxite because the networking stack for autonomous systems remains unnecessarily complex.
Teams are often forced to combine VPNs, service meshes, custom ROS tooling, fleet management platforms, identity systems, and OTA infrastructure to build a production deployment. The result is fragile systems, operational overhead, and infrastructure that is difficult to secure and maintain.
We believe a networking platform for autonomous systems should follow a few simple principles:
Simple Principles
Identity Before Access
Every node should possess a cryptographic identity. Authentication should be based on identity, not network location. Devices should be authorized because they are trusted, not because they happen to be inside a particular subnet or VPN.
Local First
Distributed systems must continue operating when connectivity is degraded or unavailable. Critical functions should not depend on a remote cloud service. Systems should be capable of operating within private networks, disconnected environments, and air-gapped deployments.
Security by Default
Encryption, authentication, authorization, and software verification should be built into the platform rather than added later. Security should be a property of the system, not a deployment option.
Control Traffic Is Different
Not all traffic is equal. Control commands, safety systems, telemetry, video streams, and bulk transfers have different requirements. Infrastructure should recognize those differences and treat them accordingly.
Open Systems Win
The goal is not to replace ROS 2, DDS, Linux, Kubernetes, or existing operational tooling. The goal is to make those systems easier to deploy, secure, and operate at scale.
What We Build
- ✓ Secure peer-to-peer connectivity
- ✓ ROS 2 and DDS networking across WAN links
- ✓ Hardware-backed device identity
- ✓ Fleet management and OTA delivery
- ✓ Traffic prioritization for critical workloads
- ✓ Self-hosted operational control planes
What We Don't Build
- ✗ Proprietary robotics frameworks
- ✗ Closed cloud platforms
- ✗ Application-specific autonomy software
- ✗ Vendor lock-in
We focus on the systems layer that sits underneath autonomous applications.
Our Objective Is Simple
"Make autonomous systems easier to connect, secure, and operate anywhere."