As the year draws to a close at Viam HQ, our team is getting into the festive spirit—building robots for hanging ornaments, lighting the menorah, and reflecting on the major shifts we’ve seen in 2025 in how physical systems are built and deployed.
Broadly, we're watching engineers iterate on physical systems with the same speed and flexibility as software development. Across manufacturing floors, robotics labs, and tech startups, teams are continuously improving, testing, and deploying updates based on real-world data. Instead of following the predictable path of decline, machines can now improve with every deployment, learning from experience and adapting to new challenges.
When this iteration speed is applied to the physical world, it unlocks possibilities that we’re just beginning to discover. Our VP of Engineering Simone Kalmakis recently joined the Stack Overflow podcast to discuss this change, and the momentum in production deployments will only accelerate in 2026.
Sign up for our UX research program Calling all software engineers: we're looking for UX research participants at our NYC robotics lab! Get hands-on with hardware, work closely with our engineers, and help shape the future of the Viam platform. Selected participants will receive $50 in appreciation of their time. Sign up.
⚙️ Platform highlights
From AI that can write complex queries to pre-built configurations you can use (and reuse) to speed up development, the Viam platform is accelerating how you build and operate intelligent machines. Here's what's new this month.
AI query assistant (beta) No more memorizing query syntax: generate complex data queries by describing what data you want to analyze in plain English, and the AI assistant will draft the MQL aggregation pipeline for you. Find it under “Data > Query tab.” Currently in beta—share your feedback on Discord.
Save and reuse data queries Build a library of common queries your team can share and build on. Save frequently used queries in the “Data” > “Query” interface and reuse them via API. Your saved queries appear in a new "Saved" tab, and the tabularDataByMQL API now accepts a query_prefix_name to prepend saved queries to new aggregations.
Custom properties for metadata Attach up to 1MB of custom JSON metadata to your organizations, locations, robots, and parts. Store configuration data, deployment notes, or any structured information you need alongside your machines. Access it through the config editor dropdown under "Custom properties."
