Preparing the published article.
PickNik Robotics: MoveIt Pro Manipulation Software and Robot Application Development
PickNik Robotics develops MoveIt Pro for robot manipulation, combining application tools, motion planning and runtime software with hardware integration requirements.
Company background
PickNik Robotics is a robotics software company based in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 2015 around the Amazon Picking Challenge, it developed from an engineering services business into a product-focused supplier. MoveIt Pro supports developers building robot manipulation applications, including projects that combine arms with mobile bases or coordinate more than one arm.
Open-source and commercial software
The MoveIt framework is an open-source community project involving contributors and maintainers from multiple organizations. PickNik provides organizational leadership and maintenance contributions, while MoveIt Pro is its commercial product. The company renamed MoveIt Studio to MoveIt Pro in 2024. Buyers should distinguish community packages from the licensed features and support included in a commercial agreement.
Platform architecture
The current application platform combines a Desktop App with a Runtime. The desktop interface connects to the Runtime, which serves simulation development and deployed robot systems; the two can run on separate machines. MoveIt Pro Core provides a separate route to lower-level planning, controller and inverse-kinematics libraries. Simulation and deployment have different computing requirements.
Building robot tasks
Applications called Objectives use behavior trees to organize actions and decisions. Behaviors provide individual operations, while reusable subtrees group related steps. Developers can extend behaviors in C++ and inspect execution through the editor and debugging tools. An evaluation should include failed grasps, unavailable sensor data and interrupted tasks, alongside successful demonstrations of the intended workflow.
Hardware integration
MoveIt Pro uses ROS 2 Control interfaces and publishes a supported robot-arm matrix. Model and controller combinations matter, and end effectors or additional hardware may require integration work. Ask the supplier to confirm the selected arm, gripper, sensors, drivers and software versions together. Listed planning or perception features still depend on actuator and sensor capabilities.
Application evaluation
Build a representative trial with actual parts, tooling, payloads and workspace constraints. Record successful task completion, operator interventions, recovery time and measured cycle time after commissioning. Compare those results with simulation assumptions and identify responsibility for model updates. Review the complete installation and protective measures separately from a demonstration that the planner avoids modeled obstacles.
Licensing and handover
Installation of the application platform requires a license key. Before committing, agree on development and deployment entitlements, included support, supported release lifetimes and the cost of hardware integration. Request a reproducible configuration, application files and a documented update process so another engineer can diagnose problems and maintain the installation after handover.