Mailing-List

Navigate to our mailing-list signup at: http://www.freelists.org/list/amazonpickingchallenge to add yourself to the competition email list and keep up-to-date on important new contest announcements and collaborate with other competitors.

Contest Registration

The registration deadline will be March 16th. Registration spots are limited, and new entrants will be judged based on the strength of their progress. Entrants are encouraged to submit a video with their application (see travel support video information below).

Participants that intend to compete in the challenge must fill out the registration form located here. The registration form must be mailed to committee@amazonpickingchallenge.org with the subject line REGISTRATION FORM: TEAM NAME.

Equipment Application

NOTE: Equipment applications for the 2015 challenge are now closed.

Equipment applications should take the form of a digital video posted by the contest team. Each team must produce a short video (between 2 and 10 minutes) and post it online with a link that can be shared with the contest committee (either publicly or privately). YouTube or Vimeo are preferred.
In order to be considered for the equipment, teams should make as impressive a video as possible illustrating they are working on the pieces necessary to be competitive in the final challenge task.
The video needs to show and describe at least one of the following things:

  • A simulation using the posted contest 3D shelf model and a simulated robot picking an item (it does not have to be a contest item) out of the shelf.
  • A real robot picking an item off of a shelf (it does not have to be the contest shelf) where the item resembles at least one of the items from the posted list of contest items.

The committee will rank the submissions in terms of progress to-date, potential competitiveness of the proposed solution, and creativity. All teams will be notified whether they were awarded equipment or not. Those that are will coordinate with Amazon for receiving the equipment after the award is decided.

Video submission links should be sent by the team leader to committee@amazonpickingchallenge.org with the subject line EQUIPMENT APPLICATION: TEAM NAME.

Travel Support Application

Note you must first be registered to apply for travel support.

If you have not yet qualified to participate, this video will serve as your application to do so (along with your registration document).

The purpose of this video is to convince the committee you are able to score significant points and compete in the picking challenge. All video submissions should:

  • Briefly explain the approach taken by your team, and what you think is unique/interesting about your approach.
  • Show video footage of your real physical system performing automated picking tasks within a workspace similar in size to the challenge shelf with similar objects.

A few things that would be impressive include:

  • Picking across a wide workspace, such as the 1 meter x 1 meter face of the challenge shelf
  • Picking objects that have a variety of different properties (boxes, bags, soft toys, small items)
  • Strategies that can get objects past the front lip on the edge of each bin on the challenge shelf
  • The ability to discriminate between three different items in a bin, and pick out the correct one

Note that:

  • Your video will not be penalized for using shelves other than the competition shelf, or the competition items.
  • A video with only simulated results and no physical results will not be awarded funding.
  • All footage should be of autonomous robot operation. If anything is teleoperated it should be clearly explained. We may ask you about this if it looks suspicious.
  • You should NOT include results from previous projects or research. We will not consider them as progress in the challenge (but footage from your equipment video submission is fine and will be considered).
  • You should minimize the use of sped-up video, or clearly indicate when you are doing so

Videos should be limited to no longer than 3 minutes in length, and can be submitted via a shared link on Vimeo or Youtube (password protection is acceptable). Video submission links should be sent by the team leader to committee@amazonpickingchallenge.org with the subject line TRAVEL APPLICATION: TEAM NAME.

This video submission will make your team eligible for reimbursement of certain costs, as noted on the challenge details site. We will notify teams by March 26th of their award amounts.