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Version: 7

Quick Start Install

Welcome!

A license key is required to run MoveIt Pro; if you do not already have one please contact us for more information. By downloading the MoveIt Pro software you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions.

Supported Operating Systems​

MoveIt Pro runs on Ubuntu natively, which we recommend for the best experience using MoveIt Pro. We also support running MoveIt Pro on macOS through the Parallels hypervisor hardware virtualization, though there are some small gotchas that we've documented through this guide. Choose your computer's operating system from below:

Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 is our recommended operating system for best performance.

  • Note: Our installation process will not install ROS or MoveIt on your host machine, and will not affect any existing ROS workspaces or configurations you may have.

For the full system requirements see the Tech Specs.

Docker Installation​

MoveIt Pro uses a Docker-based install to make ROS dependency management and compatibility easier. Note we do not currently support Docker Desktop due to its separate network stack. Check if you already have Docker by running in a terminal:

docker run hello-world
If Docker is already installed, click here.

Make sure that your Docker version is from Docker's Apt repositories - the versions from Canonical are very old. You can check this by running

apt-cache policy docker-compose-plugin

and making sure that the installed version (marked with ***) is from https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu, not a domain under ubuntu.com.

If Docker is not installed, click here.

We recommend two ways to install Docker:

Easiest

Simply copy paste the below commands into your terminal:

sudo apt-get install curl
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh
sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
sg docker "newgrp $(id -gn)"

More Advanced Follow Docker's official documentation:

  1. Docker's convenience script
  2. Docker's post-installation steps to ensure you can run without sudo privileges.

Finally

To ensure permissions settings take affect for all terminal sessions, log out and back in to your computer.

Finally, verify that you can run Docker commands without sudo.

docker run hello-world

Install MoveIt Pro​

note

Upgrading: If you have previously installed the software, see instead Upgrading MoveIt Pro.

To install, run in a terminal:

sudo apt install curl
curl -Lo /tmp/moveit-pro-7.2.0-any.deb https://github.com/PickNikRobotics/moveit_pro_deb/raw/main/picknik/moveit-pro-7.2.0-any.deb
sudo apt install /tmp/moveit-pro-7.2.0-any.deb
If you got some concerning apt warnings or errors, click here.

Known Prompt

Running kernel seems to be up to date.
Restarting services...
Daemons using outdated libraries
...
Which services should be restarted?

This is likely because you are using Ubuntu Server, perhaps in Parallels, and can be ignored. Just press enter.

Known Issue

If you use pyenv you may need to run the following command to ensure the correct Python version is used:

 pyenv global system

Quick Start MoveIt Pro​

Let's get started:

moveit_pro run

When you run MoveIt Pro for the first time, it will have several setup prompts. As part of the quick start, we suggest you follow all the recommended settings during the prompts.

MoveIt Pro will download and build the necessary Docker images and user workspace. This requires a ~2 GB download the first time, and will take a few minutes to complete. Go get a coffee ☕.

note

Advanced users: if you have an existing, custom MoveIt Pro user workspace and robot config, you can set that instead of our example workspace. See the documentation on moveit_pro configure to learn more.

note

To learn more about other MoveIt Pro command line interface (CLI) options, try moveit_pro --help.

Choosing a robot configuration package

The last configuration step in the terminal should have you choose the robot configuration package. We provide several example packages with varying robot types and morphologies. We recommend you choose lab_sim as this is it contains our most comprehensive set of example applications, and will load an example UR5e robot on a linear rail.

MoveIt Pro Bringup

After all the configuration and download is complete, MoveIt Pro should start automatically. The MoveIt Pro Runtime should load in the background, and the MoveIt Pro Developer Platform user interface should launch in your default browser at http://localhost/. It should look like this:

You can use any modern, up to date browser of your choice, though we find Firefox is typically the most performant.

tip

You can also run the MoveIt Pro Runtime in headless mode and visualize things through other tools like RViz or Foxglove:

moveit_pro run --headless

Headless mode is also used with our Python APIs to tightly integrate with your higher level application and custom graphical user interfaces. Using Python, you can start and stop objectives programmatically. Our Websocket Interface tutorial explains how to communicate using websockets in languages such as JavaScript, Python, Rust, or Java.

Troubleshooting​

If you are using a firewall, click here.

The licensing servers we use in the US require whitelisting the following IP addresses and web API URL:

  • 52.223.22.71
  • 35.71.188.31
  • https://api.cryptlex.com:443

Servers in the EU require whitelisting the following IP addresses and web API URL:

  • 75.2.113.112
  • 99.83.149.57
  • https://api.eu.cryptlex.com:443

For more information on offline authentication, please contact us directly.


Other issues, questions, or feedback:

Start An Example Application​

To quickly see an example application (an "objective") click the Run button on the "Pick April Tag Labeled Object" objective that should listed in the favorites bar on in the left sidebar objectives menu. You should then see a UR5e arm on a linear rail executing a pick and place motion:

note

If you have an Nvidia GPU and experience slower camera performance than pictured here, check out these setup instructions.

Explore other example robot configs​

MoveIt Pro ships with several example “robot configs” that you can explore, within moveit_pro_example_ws. These example worlds are auto-downloaded when you install MoveIt Pro, and serve as reference applications you can use for creating your own robotics programs. We are continuously expanding and improving the available examples in MoveIt Pro. The following table lists some of these worlds along with their launch commands:

lab_sim

Single arm on linear rail in laboratory environment.

moveit_pro run -c lab_sim

mobile_manipulation_config

Clearpath and UR5e for "scan and plan" on airplane airfoil.

moveit_pro run -c
mobile_manipulation_config

fanuc_sim

Tool changing example for simple fixed-base industrial arm.

moveit_pro run -c fanuc_sim

picknik_ur_multi_arm_config

Simple demonstration of multi-arm support, without high fidelity simulator.

moveit_pro run -c
picknik_ur_multi_arm_config

kinova_gen3_mujoco_config

Small satellite manipulation from a 7 dof arm.

moveit_pro run -c
kinova_gen3_mujoco_config

picknik_ur_mock_hw_config

Machine tending demonstration, without high fidelity simulator.

moveit_pro run -c
picknik_ur_mock_hw_config

Click on the Next button below to continue through the tutorials.