Amazon’s search for a robot capable of advanced warehouse picking techniques is over. At the Amazon Picking Challenge, held in conjunction with Germany’s Robocup in Leipiz, a robot designed by TU Delft Robotics Institute and Delft Robotics won the top prize of the best warehouse-working ‘picker’ machine.
Sixteen teams from around the world were tasked with picking up and safely depositing 20 items from a shelf in the shortest possible time period.
The winners took home $25,000, while the University of Bonn’s NimRo won $10,000 for second place and Japanese firm PFN was awarded $5,000 for third.
The technical challenge this year was harder than the last Picking Challenge held three years ago. This year less than half of the competitors scored more than 20 out of a possible 40 points, according to TechRepublic. Three years ago all of the contestants would have surpassed the highest score in 2013.
The contest, in Amazon’s words, “aimed to strengthen the ties between the industrial and academic robotic communities,” as reported by the Guardian.
