Qualcomm to acquire PickNik Robotics and keep MoveIt open-source
Qualcomm will integrate its Dragonwing platform with PickNik’s MoveIt framework. Source: Qualcomm Qualcomm Technologies Inc. today said it has agreed to acquire PickNik Inc., which has developed robotics software including the MoveIt open-source manipulation framework. The companies said they expect to streamline MoveIt integration with Qualcomm Dragonwing platforms to give developers an easier path from AI models to planning, manipulation, and real-time control. “Since our founding, PickN
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Qualcomm has agreed to acquire a robotics software company that developed MoveIt, an open-source framework used worldwide for robotic manipulation and control. The acquisition aims to integrate MoveIt with Qualcomm's Dragonwing platform to make it easier for developers to move from AI models to actual robot planning and control, while Qualcomm commits to keeping MoveIt open-source under its current license and supporting it across third-party hardware. This deal is part of a broader trend of major tech companies acquiring robotics and AI firms to build out their physical AI capabilities. The acquisition demonstrates Qualcomm's strategy of combining its hardware platforms with open-source software tools to make advanced robotics more accessible to developers.
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