MoveIt Pro

A robotics application platform featuring deployable AI, rapid development, and production-grade runtime.

Client

Platform

Tablet Desktop

Timeline

Live Service

Design Synthesis

A/B Testing

Clickable Prototypes

Competitive Analysis

Content Auditing

Contextual Enquiries

Design System

Information Architecture

Data Visualization

Project Overview

Objective

PickNik is a small robotics startup that has some truly unique software for very specific use cases. Their flagship product is MoveIt Pro, a software platform for visualizing, planning, and executing robot trajectories. However, they were having a difficult time getting users to adopt the software due to a lack of clear documentation and no interaction consistency needed for an intuitive user interface.

Team

#	Role	Description
1	CEO / Product Owner	Responsible for defining the product vision and roadmap.
1	Principal UX Design Consultant (Me)	Responsible for creating the user interface and experience and maintaining consistency across the application and design system, conducting user research, and producing the visual design of the software.
1	Lead Engineer	Responsible for implementing the roadmap and ensuring the designs are technically feasible.
2-4	Developers	Responsible for building the frontend and backend of the application.

My Mandate

Directive	Description
Create & Maintain Consistency	Leadership was looking to create a consistent user experience across the entire software suite, including the behavior tree editor and the UI for running objectives.
Design System Creation	I was tasked with creating a design system that would be used by the entire team to ensure consistency across the entire software suite based on the existing Astro design system used by Space Force.
Navigation Structure & Layout	Along with the creation of the design system, I was tasked with creating a new navigation structure and layout for the software that would be more intuitive and easier to navigate.

The main reason I was brought on to the project was to create a more consistent user experience across the entire software suite, including the behavior tree editor and the UI for running objectives. I was also tasked with creating a design system that would be used by the entire team to ensure consistency across the entire software suite based on the existing Astro design system used by Space Force. I would then maintain and add custom components to the design system as needed.

MoveIt Pro design system colors MoveIt Pro design system buttons

Discovery

Initial Insights

Method	Participants	Core Insight
User Interviews	9+ users across 3 different industries	Since the software was already live, I worked with existing users to gain insight into their workflow and pain points.
Astro Component Audit	N/A	I audited the existing Astro Design System to evaluate the components and see what could be used by default and what custom components were needed.
Engineer & Stakeholder Interviews	20+ Internal Employees	To ensure all parties were in agreement I conducted interviews with the engineers and stakeholders to get their feedback on the current UI and what they would like to see changed.

Astro Design System

Problems Identified

After the initial insights, it became clear that many custom components would be needed. We also needed a general navigational structure that would be useful across multiple clients and industries. We needed to create a system that was flexible enough to handle the different workflows of different clients, while also being easy to use and understand with a reduced amount of clicks that were in the current UI. Additionally, it became clear that certain stakeholders were very opinionated about the design of the software and were not willing to compromise on their vision.

INCONSISTENT DESIGN PATTERNS

The current design system was not consistent across the entire application. Buttons were used in some places while links were used in others, text fields often didn’t display any form of validation, sizing and spacing was all over the place, and the overall design was not cohesive.

NAMING CONVENTIONS

Due to the complex nature of the software, naming of the behaviors and objectives was crucial to the success of the software, however there was no clear documentation or guidelines for how to name them.

SMALL IMPLEMENTATION TEAM

Being a startup, the team was small and did not have the resources to employ me full-time, so every minute counted and we needed to make the most of it. Additionally, we only ever had between 2-4 engineers working on the project at a time, so we needed to be efficient with our time and resources.

NAVIGATIONAL HIERARCHY

The current navigation structure was very broken up and split across multiple tabs. This made it difficult for users to find what they were looking for and was a major pain point for users. Additionally, many controls within tabs would navigate to a different page, making it near impossible to track the user’s location in the application.

"Why is 'Pick & Place' a different objective than 'Grab & Move'? To me that's the exact same function..."

— Robotics Engineer, NASA

Proposed Solution

Being that the software was already live, we needed to create a solution that would be easy to implement and would not require a lot of changes to the existing codebase, at least during smaller updates. Instead, we would work on larger redesigns to be implemented during the big releases and focus on smaller consistency updates in between while also adding client-specific features as needed. We also agreed that spending time to create proper documentation and guidelines would be a worthwhile investment, as it would help the team and clients understand the software better while we reworked the overall structure.

Behaviors Guidelines Document

View PDF →

Design

Personas

User Group	Characteristics
Roboticist	• Highly educated, often a PhD graduate. • Incredibly technical and highly specialized in the field of robotics. • Has a deep understanding of the software and hardware required to build and operate robots.
Software Engineer	• Majority of the users. • Not all of them are experts in robotics or have a deep understanding of how to use the software to its full potential.
Non-robotics Specialist	• Rare among our clients. • These users were often in the field and not experts in the software. • Oftentimes would need to be trained on the software by the roboticists.

Conceptual Framework

Method	Description
Flow Diagrams	Created flow diagrams to visualize the different steps in the behavior tree editor and the UI for running objectives.
Site Mapping	Created site maps to visualize the different pages across the entire MoveIt Pro application to help simplify the navigation structure.
Whiteboarding	Sketched out the different concepts to help visualize the proposed components, focusing on their potential benefits and drawbacks, both from a usability and engineering perspective.

Notes on how and why you would manipulate certain joints on the arm of a robot Testing the new tree builder concept

Prototyping

Component	Description
Design System	Created a modern desktop-first design system (that still maintained best practices for touch interaction) that matched the existing Astro Design System used by Space Force.
Refined Navigation	Over time we completely removed the top navigation tabs to make it a seamless experience for running and editing objectives all from one main landing page.
W3C Compliance	Made sure all new components were fully compliant with the W3C standards for accessibility and usability.
Prototyping	Created multiple options for all new components to test with various clients, engineers, and stakeholders to ensure all parties were on the same page and to gather feedback on the new design.

MoveIt Pro design system joint jog options MoveIt Pro design system node read only options

Testing

Evaluation

Method	Description
User Testing	Conducted multiple user testing sessions with existing clients across a broad range of industries to make sure the new design would work across all different workflows and use cases.
A/B Testing	While the robotics industry is relatively niche, I was able to evaluate some users using our software against competitor software, specifically Groot and RVIZ.
Multiple Iterations	Iterated on the design multiple times based on the feedback from the testing sessions.

Additionally, we conducted a content audit of the existing retail site to identify the different pages and how they were structured to help users find what they were looking for.

PickNik.ai Content Audit

View PDF →

Iteration

Iteration	Description
Design System	Continued to update the design system to be more consistent and modern, while also adding new components as needed.
Navigation Structure	Continued to refine the navigation structure to be more intuitive and easier to navigate.
Behavior Tree Redesign	Continued to redesign the behavior tree editor to provide a cleaner experience, adding quick-add functionality, removing the need for the static sidebar, and adding the ability to run the objectives from the tree builder for rapid development and debugging.

Testing the new tree builder concept Joint visualization hover-over animation

Validation

Impact & Outcomes

Over the years, we were able to gather feedback from our internal team and most importantly, our clients to help us improve the software. While we never conducted a formal user satisfaction survey, we did receive a lot of positive feedback from our clients over multiple calls and meetings.

Metric	Description
Time-on-Task Reduction	There was an overall time-on-task reduction as we eliminated many unneeded clicks and steps in the workflow.
Improved Documentation	We were able to create a more comprehensive documentation system that was easier to understand and follow, helping users get up to speed faster.
New Client Adoption	We were able to attract new clients to the software by showcasing the new features and improvements we were making and revamping the retail site to be more straightforward and easier to navigate.
Overall Satisfaction	We consistently heard positive feedback from our clients about the new features and improvements we were making.

Reflection

Personal Growth

I spent over three years working on and off for PickNik, learning a lot about the robotics industry and the challenges that come with it. I would say this was absolutely the most challenging project in terms of understanding the needs of the user as the robotics industry is incredibly niche and specialized. There were additional challenges as well in working with a small team of engineers and stakeholders who were not always on the same page. However, I am incredibly grateful to the team for giving me the opportunity to work on this project and placing their faith in me to help them achieve their goals. It brought me to a new understanding of what I want to work on moving forward, specifically focused on smaller projects and design systems.

Desktop Demo

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