Sucking, gripping robot wins Amazon contest - CNET

In what could ea first place as worst-named contest ever, the Amazon Picking Challenge has a wier.

A team from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands has won $50,000 for creating the robot most likely to take over humans' jobs in Amazon warehouses. Actually, the team beat out 15 others from around the world by most quickly picking out 20 products from a container and depositing them on specified shelves without damaging the items -- and then doing the reverse. The Delft robot won through its combination of a "suction cup, a 'two-fingered' gripper and a 3D depth-sensing camera," according to BBC News.

Contests such as this one have huge implications for the massive e-tailer, which has sought to rely more and more on machines to automate the ordering, locating and delivering of goods.

The Amazon Picking Challenge was a sideline event at the Robocup competition, which ended Monday. Robocup, which took place this year in Leipzig, Germany, is focused on creating darling robots that will eventually kick humans' butts at soccer.