MoveIt Pro 7.0 is Released
PickNik releases Pro 7.0 with even more power, speed, and flexibility for your robotic applications. With this release, we’ve made significant strides in our three core pillars: Rapid Development, Hardware Agnostic Design, and Intelligent Runtime Decisioning.
RAPID DEVELOPMENT
Planning Speed-Up
We’ve optimized several core planning tools to enhance performance:
- PlanCartesianPath and ValidateTrajectory now have faster default settings.
- Behaviors like SetupMTCMoveAlongFrameAxis are optimized for quicker Cartesian planning.
- The RobotModel is now embedded directly in the BehaviorContext, eliminating loading delays.
Click To Segment using ONNX models
Using the new GetMasks2DFromPointQuery, shown in the “Segment Point Cloud from Clicked Point” example objective, users can segment objects from point clouds using an ONNX based Segment Anything model.
New and Improved Behaviors
- AddToolToScene and RemoveToolFromScene simplify tool insertion and removal in your planning environment.
- GeneratePointToPointTrajectory enables seamless creation of straight-line joint trajectories.
- GetTrajectoryStateAtTime provides precise joint states at specific times.
For more details, see our updated Tool Changing guide.
Trajectory Stitching for Seamless Execution
The new Trajectory Stitching feature in the Joint Trajectory Admittance Controller (JTAC) enables your robots to seamlessly continue executing tasks by stitching new trajectories to ongoing ones—no stopping required. This improves task fluidity and reduces downtime.
Lightning-Fast Inverse Kinematics
We’ve introduced PoseIK, a built-in inverse kinematics solver that’s 10x faster than existing open-source alternatives. Your robots can now compute solutions at unparalleled speed, empowering you to tackle complex tasks effortlessly. Check out our new PoseIK guide to get started, and enjoy updated example configurations for immediate use.
Streamlined UI Enhancements
- Unified terminology, clearer labels, and re-ordered ports for better organization.
- Enhanced visualization options for global and local costmaps, TRIANGLE_LIST markers, and mesh collision objects.
- Improved toasts and notifications, with a new “Clear All” button.
Unified and Intuitive Sidebar
Development is now smoother than ever with our revamped sidebar. The updated interface unifies the Build and Run tabs, allowing you to keep the sidebar open while executing tasks. This enables quicker multitasking and streamlines your workflow as you develop and refine new objectives.
HARDWARE AGNOSTIC DESIGN
Expanded Pro-RRT Support
Pro-RRT now supports:
- Robots with continuous joints, enabling motion along the shortest path to target angles.
- 2 DOF orientation constraints for precise tool alignment.
These enhancements further solidify MoveIt Pro’s compatibility with diverse hardware setups.
Improved Tool Handling
The AttachTool behavior has been revamped to require tools in the Planning Scene before attachment. DetachTool now re-inserts detached tools into the scene automatically, ensuring smooth transitions during tool changes.
Compatibility and Setup Improvements
- Deprecated older behaviors in favor of the versatile For Each behavior.
- Simplified workspace configurations by moving active files to a single source objectives folder.
- Added a guide for MoveIt Pro ML on Jetson Devices, enabling GPU acceleration for Jetson platforms.
INTELLIGENT RUNTIME DECISIONING
Smarter Behaviors for Dynamic Applications
New behaviors like GetTrajectoryStateAtTime and GeneratePointToPointTrajectory make runtime adjustments more precise and reliable. Deprecated behaviors are now marked clearly, with warnings during runtime to help you transition smoothly.
Enhanced Runtime Control
- Subtree port remapping improvements prevent unnecessary input/output creation.
- Re-retrieving input port values during execution ensures updates are accurately registered.
Robust Bug Fixes
We’ve squashed numerous bugs to enhance stability and usability:
- Fixed UI layout issues in the Behavior Tree Editor.
- Resolved crashes caused by incomplete configurations.
- Addressed inefficiencies in the “Run” tab’s CPU usage.
- Improved handling of ROS image topics to prevent layout resets.
Documentation and Onboarding
We’ve expanded our documentation to make it easier to get started and stay productive:
- Updated guides for tool-changing workflows, AprilTag usage, and Nav2 setup.
- A new comprehensive guide for running MoveIt Pro without the CLI.
Whether you’re building new applications or refining existing ones, MoveIt Pro continues to be the go-to platform for robotic manipulation.
