Qualcomm acquires PickNik Robotics to advance the future of open robotics and physical AI

Qualcomm Technologies announced an agreement to acquire PickNik Robotics (PickNik Inc.) at ROSCon Toronto.

Qualcomm said that the acquisition is intended to strengthen its commitment to fostering an open robotics ecosystem, providing developers with the tools, software and frameworks needed to move more efficiently from research and experimentation to prototyping, deployment and production at scale.

Open robotics frameworks

According to Qualcomm, PickNik Robotics is an industry-recognized robotics software company and longtime steward of MoveIt, one of the world's most widely adopted open-source robotics manipulation frameworks. In addition to remaining open-source, Qualcomm said that MoveIt is expected to offer streamlined integration with Dragonwing robotics platforms, providing developers with a more streamlined path from AI models such as VLAs and VLMs to planning, manipulation, and real-time control.

“Robotics is one of the most exciting frontiers of physical AI, and software is the connective tissue that turns great hardware into great robots,” said Nakul Duggal, EVP and group GM, automotive, industrial and embedded IoT, and robotics, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “PickNik has earned tremendous trust within the global robotics community through its stewardship of MoveIt and its commitment to open-source innovation. Together, we plan to make it easier for developers to build advanced robotic applications on Dragonwing robotics platforms, while continuing to support the openness and collaboration that have made MoveIt successful.”

The companies said that the closing of this transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

“Since our founding, PickNik’s mission has been to provide industries with a powerful, open platform that accelerates innovation and development of advanced robotics, well beyond traditional factories," said Dave Coleman, founder and chief product officer, PickNik Inc. “Joining Qualcomm Technologies will allow us to accelerate that mission, expand investment in MoveIt as a leading AI training platform for robotics, and deliver even more value to developers while preserving the openness, community collaboration and cross-platform support that have always been central to our approach.”

Advancing open robotics development

Built atop the Robot Operating System (ROS), Qualcomm said that MoveIt has been used extensively by developers, students, researchers and commercial robotics organizations worldwide to create sophisticated robotic applications in nearly every industry, including industrial automation, service robotics, mobile manipulation, and emerging physical AI systems.

“MoveIt is entering an exciting new chapter with the resources and support to help expand its impact,” said Dave Grant, CEO, PickNik Inc. “We look forward to joining Qualcomm Technologies and building on MoveIt’s momentum.”

Qualcomm Technologies and PickNik said that they recognize that MoveIt’s value comes from its openness, broad adoption and active developer community. Accordingly, Qualcomm Technologies said that it intends for MoveIt to remain open-source under its existing license with community-driven roadmaps and open resources. Qualcomm Technologies also intends to continue supporting MoveIt across third-party hardware providers. The company said that MoveIt’s hardware-agnostic design is a key enabler of innovation, giving developers the freedom to choose the robot, compute platforms and sensor components that best fit their needs.

Qualcomm Technologies and PickNik are both founding members of the Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA) and Qualcomm Technologies added that it intends to continue driving major projects including Space ROS, a hardened version of ROS optimized for critical applications such as space exploration. Qualcomm Technologies said that it will continue to support the open source development of MoveIt and ROS.

Accelerating robotics development on Dragonwing and Arduino

As part of the acquisition, Qualcomm said that MoveIt, MoveIt Pro and future PickNik technologies are poised to become more closely integrated with Dragonwing robotics platforms.

Qualcomm said that this integration will enable developers to more easily take advantage of Dragonwing’s advanced AI, heterogeneous computing, connectivity and real-time robotics capabilities to help simplify robotics development, shorten deployment timelines and accelerate innovation across a broad range of robotic applications.

Qualcomm added that developers building on Dragonwing should benefit from first-class, optimized support for MoveIt’s motion planning, manipulation, perception and kinematics capabilities - helping to move from prototype to production faster while maintaining the flexibility to develop for diverse robotics architectures and deployment environments.

Starting with Arduino VENTUNO Q boards, Qualcomm said that MoveIt integration with Arduino aims to make advanced robotics, edge AI and heterogeneous compute more accessible than ever. The companies said that this integration seeks to extend powerful motion planning and autonomy capabilities to target millions of developers, helping shorten the journey from prototype to production-ready robots.