article_snippet: And The robots, which are around the size of a human hand are capable of manoeuvring objects, hinting that such robots could one day replace humans as factory workers.
article_snippet: Amazon has launched a competition encouraging engineers to create Amazon next generation of shelf-picking robots.
article_snippet: Bots will battle Amazon out at the ICRA conference in Seattle in
article_snippet: The challenge combines object recognition, pose recognition, grasp planning, compliant manipulation, motion planning, task planning, task execution, and error detection and recovery,' Amazon said.
article_snippet: Participating robots will earn points by locating products on shelves, retrieving Participating robots and putting Participating robots into cardboard boxes ready to be sent to customers.
article_snippet: Points will be deducted for dropped or damaged good and the team that creates the winning robot will win $26,000 (£17,463).
article_snippet: Amazon currently uses robots by Kiva Systems to fetch items so Amazon human workforces doesn’t have to walk as far in Amazon vast warehouses.
article_snippet: But Amazon machines can't pick and pack products yet.
article_snippet: The aim of the project is to create intelligent bots that could work in factories, taking over production jobs from humans.
article_snippet: Amazon already uses an army of 15,000 robots in Amazon huge warehouses to pick up items ordered by customers.