PickNik Robotics:
Hardware-agnostic robotics solutions

Situation

PickNik is the world leader in robotic manipulation solutions, both on Earth and in space. PickNik is well known in the robotics and open source community as the company behind the manipulation and motion planning framework for ROS, MoveIt (and MoveIt2 for ROS 2). The MoveIt framework utilizes ros_control for hardware abstraction and agnostic access to various robotic arms, such as Universal Robots, ABB, KUKA, Kinova and Franka Emika.

Problem

Back in 2020, many companies were looking at the transition from ROS and ROS 2 - and as a leading consultancy, PickNik was a natural choice for them. However, the control framework for ROS 2, ros2_control, had not yet been released and was subject to many changes. This meant a big risk for PickNik to take on this project and potentially not deliver on time.

Through mutual connections in the ROS world, they became aware of a new company, Stogl Robotics, that specialized in robot control with ROS (2) using ros(2)_control. They were attracted by a similar consulting style and the in-depth knowledge and understanding of the control stacks used in ROS and their functionality.

Solution

In order to develop new robotics solutions for ROS 2 and to convert existing robot drivers from ROS to ROS 2, Stogl Robotics contributed its expertise in ros2_control to extend and adapt its core functions.

As part of several projects, PickNik and Stogl Robotics have made many commercial and also customized robots available in ROS 2 by implementing, extending and improving ros2_control drivers. In addition, Stogl Robotics' intensive involvement in the development of ros2_control increased the efficiency of the PickNik team, as they were always one step ahead of important changes through collaboration.

To simplify development and testing for PickNik's remote team, Stogl Robotics developed an extension for ros_control that allows for easy simulation and seamless integration with the robot's hardware drivers. This small extension has had a huge impact on many PickNik projects, allowing for easier collaboration with the team and customers around the world, using a workflow familiar to ROS 1 users.

In addition, as maintainer of ros2_control, Stogl Robotics has helped to appropriately design new functions developed by PickNik or its customers and to shorten the time span for the integration of the releases.

Result

Stogl Robotics' involvement quickly resulted in the delivery of well-written, functional and tested code that seamlessly integrated with 4am Robotics' existing systems. This collaboration significantly accelerated the development of several use cases in 4am's product line, such as the AFI autonomous forklift and the AMC-L mobile robot.

The Stogl Robotics team is pleased to have effectively resolved the development bottleneck and delivered the expected level of expertise in software development. We thank 4am Robotics for the trust and the positive confirmation.