MoveIt 2 — The Complete Guide: Free Motion Planning for Robot Arms on ROS 2
MoveIt 2 is an open-source (BSD-3-Clause) software framework for motion planning and manipulation with robot arms, built on ROS 2. It is very widely used in research and industry.
MoveIt 2
PickNik Robotics and MoveIt community
A framework for motion planning, inverse kinematics and collision checking for robot arms on ROS 2.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Path planning — collision-free motion among obstacles.
- Inverse kinematics — command the end-effector pose, not just joint angles.
- 3D perception — integrating depth cameras and point clouds.
- Grasping and execution — generating grasps and executing joint trajectories.
- Task Constructor — planning multi-step tasks such as pick-and-place.
How you work with it
Familiarity with ROS 2 is required, and the framework runs on Ubuntu. You set up the robot model, plan and visualise in RViz, and test in simulation in Gazebo before running on a real arm. Use is free for any purpose, including commercial work.
Related tools
For optimisation-based simulation and control — Drake. For another simulation environment — Webots.
ROS (Robot Operating System)
Open Robotics
The standard middleware for building robot software.
Get it from the vendor
Gazebo
Open Robotics
3D robotics simulator with physics and simulated sensors, integrated with ROS.
Get it from the vendor
Drake
Toyota Research Institute (originated at MIT CSAIL)
A C++ and Python toolbox for robot dynamics — multibody simulation with contact, optimisation and control design.
Get it from the vendor
Webots
Cyberbotics
Approachable robot simulator with a library of ready robots and environments, common in teaching.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
For anyone working with robot arms in ROS 2, MoveIt 2 is almost the default choice — free, open and proven.