New Free Tool Helps Robots Plan Faster, No GPU Needed
This could make robots cheaper and quicker to set up in factories and homes.
A developer is building batchplan, an open-source motion planner with a ROS 2 entry point called batchplan-ros. You can give it several candidate grasp poses in one request; it solves IK and plans to them in a batch, then returns the shortest valid path.
It runs on CPU, speaks MoveIt’s MoveGroup and GetPositionIK interfaces, and includes an optional MoveIt planner plugin. A simulated Panda can be tried in the browser at localhost:8080 on ROS 2 Jazzy, Linux or Apple-silicon macOS, with no GPU needed. The project is early, and planning uses sphere-based robot collision geometry; the developer especially wants feedback on integrating it with other robots and MoveIt configurations.
- Batchplan is free, open-source software that helps robots plan movements faster by considering many options at once.
- It runs on regular CPUs, so you don't need expensive hardware, making robot automation more affordable.
- It works with common robot software (ROS 2 and MoveIt), so it can be adopted easily by existing robot systems.
Why It Matters
This could lower costs and speed up robot deployment in factories, logistics, and homes, making automation more accessible.