RapidRobotics: How MoveIt Pro Accelerated and Future-Proofed Rapid Robotics’ Industrial Humanoids

SITUATION

Rapid Robotics is reinvigorating American manufacturing by providing accessible, affordable automation solutions in real-time. Their end-of-line and logistics solutions optimize supply chains, reduce operational overhead, and remove the complexity from robotic automation in manufacturing — giving their customers the power to focus on growing their business, not maintaining robots.

PROBLEM

With only six months until the official launch of their new industrial humanoid, 3Pro, in March 2025 — not to mention several customers who had already placed orders and competitors racing towards similar solutions — Rapid Robotics needed help accelerating their software development. After spending over a year trying to build a more advanced robotics hardware platform and the software stack to power it simultaneously, the work had become far too time-consuming and expensive to continue internally.

This project was unchartered territory for Rapid Robotics, so they needed to navigate it successfully — and as quickly as possible. The company had already mastered robotic automation for tasks like piece-picking, packing, palletizing, and kitting. Next, they wanted to create an AI-enabled “humanoid on wheels” that could complete multiple tasks and move to various spots on the factory floor instead of waiting for products to arrive on an assembly line. This type of hardware is proven to be faster, more accurate, and more stable than its bipedal counterparts, but the software behind it is incredibly complex.

The untapped potential made that complexity worthwhile, though, because a mobile humanoid that can seamlessly navigate smooth factory floors is a game-changer for manufacturers. Older robots require a massive frame to hang from, which disrupts existing layouts and requires alterations in the way products move through the factory. In addition to being confined to a frame in one area, these older robots can only master one task, meaning multiple robots — and their bulky frames — are needed.

Rapid Robotics’ vision is to replace this clunky setup with a general-purpose humanoid that better serves modern manufacturers’ needs. A sleek mobile base, two arms, and more robust software would give Rapid Robotics’ customers the ability to automate a variety of tasks in a variety of areas with just one piece of hardware. However, bringing this vision to life was no small feat.

Enter PickNik and our motion planning and runtime development platform, MoveIt Pro.

SOLUTION

With time ticking, MoveIt Pro’s pre-built advanced motion capabilities gave Rapid Robotics a fast development environment. Since the building blocks already exist, all Rapid Robotics had to do was combine and customize them to create smarter software that can power one robot to do multiple tasks.

There was an additional opportunity to accelerate go-to-market that was only possible with MoveItPro: detailed, real-time simulations that can test and refine the robot’s behaviors while the finished product is being constructed. It’s not only a faster process, but a less risky one because it enables Rapid Robotics to spot and correct any issues before deploying the humanoids in real-world settings.

OUTCOME

Rapid Robotics integrated MoveIt Pro so that dozens of unique tasks and processes could be executed on each robot, opening a market of never-before-tapped opportunities. Having a multi-task robot gives Rapid Robotics a strong competitive edge because it’s challenging to give a single-task robot enough volume of tasks to justify the expense. Rapid Robotics’ customers don’t have that problem — a general-purpose robot replaces the need for fixed robots in multiple locations, leading to stronger ROI.

Even better, this breakthrough came at lightning-fast speed. Building this out internally would have meant investing years of engineering time, plus the expenses associated with it. With the support of PickNik’s team of experts, Rapid Robotics could remain hyper-focused on time-to-market and approaching deadlines.

Leveraging MoveIt Pro’s advanced capabilities and modular design have future-proofed Rapid Robotics’ industrial humanoids. Focusing on the future is part of Rapid Robotics’ ethos, and with MoveIt Pro, iterations for new features and capabilities can be done faster than the competition. What used to take weeks and months can now be accomplished in hours and days — making Rapid Robotics the clear choice for manufacturers that need specific automation capabilities, no matter how nuanced or advanced.