New cross site blog posts (#845)

Co-authored-by: laco <[email protected]>

_posts/2024-02-20-Introduciong-MoveIt-Pro-Rapid-Robotics-Application-Development-for-Unstructured-Environments.md

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+---
+author: Ross Wehner
+comments: false
+date: 2024-02-20
+layout: post
+title: "Introducing MoveIt Pro: Rapid Robotics Application Development for Unstructured Environments"
+media_type: image
+media_link: /assets/images/blog_posts/studio-to-pro-main.jpg
+description: MoveIt Pro simplifies the development of robotics applications that intelligently adapt to changing and variable environments
+---
+
+We are excited to announce MoveIt Pro, a new name for our flagship product. Previously known as MoveIt Studio, we are changing the product’s name to MoveIt Pro to better align with the capabilities and value that MoveIt Pro delivers.
+
+Since its launch in 2021, MoveIt Pro’s capabilities have grown even more expansive than our easy-to-use user interface and powerful behavior tree builder that MoveIt Pro  is known for.  We’ve   been rapidly enhancing our commercial-grade robotics runtime engine to further accelerate the development of solutions to real-world, unstructured robotics challenges. With so many features under the hood, the professional tool has outgrown the original MoveIt Studio name.
+
+We’ve made changes to clarify the UI and runtime functions clearly, the MoveIt Studio name now represents the high-level robotics programming environment while a new MoveIt Runtime product will contain our advanced robotics engine and developer tools.
+
+<img src="{{ site.url }}/assets/images/blog_posts/studio-to-pro.png" alt="MoveIt Pro" />
+
+### Robust Tools For Enterprise Success
+
+**Built For Enterprises and Professionals**
+
+MoveIt Pro helps companies rapidly implement automation that intelligently adapts to changing and variable environments. The development platform accelerates ROI and time-to-market by enabling rapid prototyping and iteration. Trusted by global enterprises, it’s also the industry’s only comprehensive, rigorously tested, commercial-grade robotics platform designed to deploy real-world robotic automation with confidence across diverse industries.
+
+**Future-Ready Technology**
+
+We are committed to keeping MoveIt Pro at the forefront of robotic motion planning technology. Our users receive frequent updates with cutting-edge advancements to ensure they are always equipped with the latest tools to meet the demands of ever-evolving industries.
+
+**Comprehensive Commercial-Grade Robotics Runtime Engine**
+
+Durable, reliable, and rigorously tested, Moveit Runtime is trusted by leading enterprises to deploy robotic automation with confidence. The hardware-agnostic software combines open source innovation with commercial-grade dependability to reduce risks.
+
+**Visual drag & drop frontend Programming Environment**
+
+MoveIt Studio’s intuitive visual UI streamlines the creation of advanced robotic arm software to resiliently solve real-world enterprise challenges. Our hardware-agnostic approach supports all commercial and custom robot arms, ensuring flexible, scalable solutions, with freedom from vendor lock-in.
+
+**Extensive Library of Reference Applications**
+
+Our library of reference applications allows you to significantly reduce development time. Current reference applications include, bin picking, opening doors, pick & place, peg in hole, scan & plan, cutting along path, and visual servoing. See our reference applications in action at [https://picknik.ai/pro/](https://picknik.ai/pro/).
+
+**Robust Enterprise Support**
+
+MoveIt Pro is backed by robust end-to-end services and support for business-critical applications from our team of experts. Our comprehensive professional services accelerate all stages of product development, deployment, optimization, and sustainment.
+
+### About PickNik:
+PickNik is the top advanced robotic arm software provider in the world and has made solutions for clients in more than a dozen industries worldwide and across all major arm OEMs. PickNik’s software is utilized daily in applications including space, construction, oil & gas, agriculture, healthcare, rail, food preparation, industrial maintenance, warehousing, manufacturing, utilities, and the U.S. military. [Read more](https://picknik.ai/case-studies/).
+
+At PickNik we believe you should be able to easily bring robotic arms to unstructured applications anywhere. This name change signifies our commitment to providing commercial-grade motion planning solutions.
+
+We are excited for you to experience MoveIt Pro and look forward to supporting your endeavors in robotic automation. Thank you for being part of this journey with us!

_posts/2024-02-22-MoveIt-Pro-Open-Core.md

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+---
+author: Nathan Brooks, CTO and Jonathan Fries, Director of Operations
+comments: false
+date: 2024-02-22
+layout: post
+title: "MoveIt Pro Open Core - Building and Supporting Open Source Software for the Future"
+media_type: image
+media_link: /assets/images/blog_posts/MoveIt_Pro_Open_Core.jpg
+description: PickNik has been, and continues to be, a major advocate for Open Source Software for robotics - our company mission is to Enable robotics companies through robust platforms for manipulation applications in unstructured environments.
+redirect_from: /real-time/priority%20inversion/roscon/2024/02/22/MoveIt-Pro-Open-Core.html
+categories:
+- Open Source
+- Open Core Software
+---
+
+PickNik has been, and continues to be, a major advocate for Open Source Software (OSS) for robotics - our company mission is to **enable robotics companies through robust platforms for manipulation applications in real-world environments.** We continue to believe that open source allows for more creativity, more productivity, and more robots in the world.
+
+Our main approach for this has been to be the primary support for MoveIt (MoveIt OSS), an open source tool for robotic motion planning. Additionally, PickNik supports other open source software packages that are part of the ROS ecosystem - ROS 2 itself, ROS drivers, MoveIt Task Constructor, ROS Bridge, etc.
+
+Why then would we create MoveIt Pro, a commercial product, as opposed to continuing to roll every new feature into MoveIt? There are a number of strategic reasons for this:
+
+1. **Become a direct consumer of MoveIt OSS** - PickNik supports MoveIt in a number of ways: financial support for maintenance and development, community and industry advocacy, and finding mutually beneficial ways to extend MoveIt with our clients. These we will continue to do. But we also believe that MoveIt will benefit from a dedicated PickNik product team being a direct customer, rather than an indirect customer through a client.
+
+2. **Expand our ability to support MoveIt financially** - There are two types of MoveIt improvements that have been difficult to fund with a traditional services funding model: deep refactoring work and new, large features. However, as the MoveIt Pro product install base grows, we’ll be able to expand our support for MoveIt OSS as well. This means a greater ability to do the development to take MoveIt to the next level.
+
+3. **Address new needs of a maturing industry** - As the robotics industry continues to mature it makes sense that PickNik and MoveIt need to mature and be able to execute on client needs more quickly. Not everything that would make a client project move quickly belongs in MoveIt OSS. MoveIt Pro is the home of a framework and tool kit focused on building, refining, and shipping manipulation applications.
+
+4. **User Interface for Less Experienced Roboticists** - MoveIt focuses on providing tools for advanced roboticists to develop motion planning for any robot. Simply put, there are not enough advanced roboticists to support the needs of the robotics market. For less experienced roboticists, Pro will provide visual tools for composing and debugging common manipulation tasks, with an emphasis on accessibility. These tools are expensive to develop and lack funding via traditional service models, but developing them now is critical to the future of commercial robotics.
+
+MoveIt Pro will provide companies mature software for manipulation applications beyond the core capabilities provided by MoveIt OSS. Assigning value to robotics software is difficult, and there are more examples of sustainable open-core businesses than pure open-source businesses. We believe a combination of MoveIt OSS and MoveIt Pro is the best way to grow both projects.