September 22, 2025
We’re excited that a high quality, updated ROS 2 driver is available for various FANUC and Kawasaki models. Having major industrial manipulator OEMs that supports high bandwidth streaming control via ROS Control is a big win for the robotics community and users of MoveIt Pro. FANUC also now has “Gold” level support with MoveIt Pro. Check out their drivers on our Hardware Ecosystem Page. PickNik is always happy to help support users of ROS 2 drivers.
p.s. in the Bay Area? Join our breakfast event on Thursday, Oct 16th at Robobusiness to hear from our customer CleanBotix on food sanitation mobile manipulators.
In this update
- Case Study: Charles River Analytics
- New Features in MoveIt Pro
- Meta Quest for AI Data Collection
- End-to-End AI with Diffusion Policies
- Speed Control via Trajectory Scaling
- New Joint Velocity Controller
- IMU and 3D Lidar Support in Simulation
- 3D Surface Contouring for Coverage Path
Case Study: Charles River Analytics
Charles River, a leader in AI, robotics, and human-centered technologies, sought to develop intuitive human-robot interaction systems for NASA. They leveraged MoveIt Pro to enable robots to effectively respond to instructions and seamlessly collaborate with human partners.
Watch this month’s recent webinar or read the full case study.
New Features in MoveIt Pro
Meta Quest for AI Data Collection
Seamlessly control robots using the Meta Quest headset—set up via the UI, build or run the companion Meta Quest APK, and link headset inputs directly into your teleop workflows. This makes collecting ML model training data and driving robotic control through immersive VR intuitive and efficient. Learn more.End-to-End AI with Diffusion Policies
Easily train end-to-end models using Diffusion Policies, collecting demonstration data via teleoperation, then deploying the learned policy into a MoveIt Pro Objective. This powerful integration transforms raw demonstrations into deployable, learned controllers.
Speed Control via Trajectory Scaling
Globally scale trajectory execution speed, via the JTAC, to match your risk tolerance, making it easy to speed up or slow down motions across the board. Enables safe visual inspection and fine-tuning—ideal for large robots, fragile end effectors, and Behavior Tree–driven prototyping.New Joint Velocity Controller
The JVC enables smooth velocity-based control of robot joints, automatically ramping up or down motion while respecting acceleration limits. This unlocks new possibilities for Objectives that require velocity control, like visual servoing, joint jogging or RL with velocity action spaces. Learn more.
IMU and 3D Lidar Support in Simulation
The MoveIt Pro Simulator now includes IMU (accelerometer + gyroscope) and 3D Lidar sensors, publishing standard ROS 2 messages for easy integration. This enables richer Behaviors and Objectives in simulation, unlocking new workflows for localization and navigation.3D Surface Contouring for Coverage Path
MoveIt Pro now includes basic scan-and-plan functionality for 3D surfaces. Contour paths generated from point clouds can be used for planning surface treatment and finishing operations such as spraying, painting, grinding, etc.
ROS 2 Driver Development Services
PickNik offers expert ROS 2 driver development to ensure your hardware operates with the responsiveness and precision required for advanced robotic control. Partner with the most experienced ROS driver creators in the industry—including support for ABB, Kinova, Universal Robots, Motiv, HDT, and more.
MoveIt Pro is PickNik Robotics’ commercial robotics software platform that extends the capabilities of the open-source MoveIt project. Designed for unstructured environments, MoveIt Pro provides powerful tools for motion planning, grasping, perception, and behavior sequencing. With pre-built robot behaviors and a modular runtime architecture, MoveIt Pro significantly reduces engineering effort and time-to-deployment. Its hardware-agnostic design supports a wide range of commercial and custom robotic arms, making it ideal for scalable automation across space, manufacturing, and logistics sectors.
