Amazon and the challenge of the robots to manage warehouses: two projects … – The Messenger

There is also a piece of Italian excellence at Amazon Picking Challenge, the first competition held by the e-commerce giant to reinvent with a robotic solution management of its stores, the ones from which all the world every day are shipped millions of goods purchased online.

For the final, to be held in Seattle in late May as part of ICRA 2015, will be two teams of the University of Pisa and the Polytechnic University of Turin to challenge other 30 universities among the best in the world, from MIT in Boston at UC Berkeley. The purpose of the tender called by Amazon is to encourage universities and research centers around the world to devise advanced solutions, automated, to take off the shelf items ordered by customers online – from books to cereal boxes – and store them in bundles ready for shipping. The goal is primarily to advance the state of robotics research: the end of the competition in addition to cash prizes for the top three (20 thousand dollars to the first), all of the software product will become open source and will be available to the community scientific.

Among the best selected from Amazon in the past months there are also two Italian projects. One of the two is made by the Polytechnic of Turin with Comau (group member Fca). This solution, ANSA said one of the researchers of the Polytechnic Manuel Del Verme, employs a robot Comau (the Racer 999) to create a “arm” with six degrees of freedom, namely that moves in six dimensions “with millimeter precision and a large movement speed. ” The gripper systems, namely the “hands” are two, one, emphasizes Manuel, “is quite innovative, there is nothing of this type of business at the time.”

The ” brain “of the robot is a software that uses” a system of vision and depth “that joined a webcam makes sure that the arm” knows exactly what to grab and where. ” “We are happy to get to Seattle, the qualification was very complex and the final is already proof that he has done a great job – says Manuel -. In a time when I was beginning to believe that there was a good chance to stay in Italy, the facts show that there are companies willing to invest. ” The other project is realized by the Italian Research Center “E. Piaggio »University of Pisa and the Italian Institute of Technology. “Our strong point – ANSA said the researcher of the University Tuscan Manolo Garabini – is the hand used in our robot ” has all the degrees of freedom of a human hand, about 20, and a single motor that moves all phalanges. This allows it to adapt to the shape and texture of objects very different. “

Thanks to the” bearing “that function like muscles and movements that can be run smoother. Researchers of Pisa are “delighted” to be admitted to the final stage of the competition and already looking beyond: after the trip to Seattle will be near Los Angeles for DARPA Robotic Challenge, where they will show humanoid robots that have to do with more tasks, even driving cars, imagining scenarios in which a dangerous tomorrow to replace the rescue or recovery that now threaten human lives. “We are lucky to be in environments where there are facilities to compete at the highest level in the field of robotic – explains Manolo -. And we are not the only ones, there are several laboratories in Italy following projects of the highest level. ”
             
             
                         
         

             Monday, April 6, 2015, 20:16 – Last Updated: 20:17
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