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World Robot Summit 2020 Future Convenience Store Challenge

World Robot Summit 2020
Future Convenience Store Challenge

ワールドロボットサミット 2020 フューチャーコンビニエンスストアチャレンジ

 

In 2020, we participated in the World Robot Challenge (WRC) , an event sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as part of the World Robot Summit (WRS). Our team achieved third place in the "Future Convenience Store Challenge," which focused on the coexistence of humans and robots in a convenience store environment by stocking and disposing of products.

Future Convenience Store Challenge

フューチャーコンビニエンスストア チャレンジ

 

In the Future Convenience Store Challenge, a mobile robot must be able to not only navigate autonomously but also detect, pick up, and place objects in the environment.
Thus we equipped "
Cuboid" with a robot arm and hand camera to tackle the challenges above and to discover the potential for wider application.

Detecting objects with AR markers

  • Various products such as rice balls and lunch boxes are stored in a box with an AR marker

  • Recognize AR marker with robot hand camera

  • Estimate product type and posture with recognized AR marker

Robot arm that can handle products in a narrow space

 

  • A SCARA-type arm with a high degree of freedom for various movements on a horizontal surface

  • Small end-effector with minimal vertical movement

  • Can work in areas with narrow vertical spaces and wide horizontal surfaces such as shelves

Carry goods