BRENT: Amazon is testing robots that could one day replace human workers in warehouses. Amazon’s Picking Challenge was a competition designed to select which robot could best perform duties normally carried out by human workers within warehouses.
Warehouse robots were tested at the IEEE’s International Conference on Robotics and Automation held in Seattle. They were made to select a paperback book, a bag of Oreo cookies, dog toys and a rubber duck from a shelf much like those typically seen in warehouses. Points were awarded for proper grasping and packing and deducted whenever a robot dropped, lost or broke an item.
“We tried to pick out a variety of different products that were representative of our catalogue and that pose different kinds of grasping challenges. Like plastic wrap; difficult-to-grab little dog toys; things you don’t want to crush, like the Oreos,” Pete Wurman, chief technology officer for Kiva Systems, said. Kiva makes robotic shelves that already help move goods in Amazon warehouses.
The Technical University of Berlin was the clear winner of the competition, taking first prize after being awarded 148 points and beating its closest rival by 60 points. It’s robot moved 10 out of 12 objects in a 20-minute period.
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