JD X Robotics Challenge Concludes, BUPT Team's Intelligent Robot Wins the Championship

On March 25, as the Water Drop Team of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications raised the championship trophy, the final of the JD 2017 JRC X Robot Challenge organized by JD X Division officially came to an end. The robots of the 12 final teams competed against each other, picking goods and other operations in a simulated real warehouse scene. The creative technical solutions and calm on-site responses demonstrated the current leading level of robotics technology in Chinese universities and the outstanding team spirit of students, and also provided many innovative ideas for the construction of smart logistics. Since the competition started in October 2016, the JD X Robot Challenge has been held in seven major cities and ten key universities across the country. After the fierce competition of the preliminary and semi-finals, 185 works from 81 universities finally won the championship. The FreeDream team of Shenyang Automation Research Institute and the Robotalent team of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China won the second and third place respectively.

Many excellent technical achievements were demonstrated in the competition. For the commodity picking and palletizing scenarios in real warehousing environments, the technical solutions and robots with different characteristics have shown more possibilities for the further intelligentization of warehousing. Xiao Jun, Vice President of JD Group and President of X Division, said: "The field of smart logistics is a fertile ground for innovation, and talents from universities will be the creators of the future. This competition brings together talents from universities in related majors. By opening up JD's rich smart logistics application scenarios, we will jointly study and discuss the future innovative technologies and development directions in the logistics field with the academic community, and explore new ways to develop smart logistics. At the same time, JD hopes to stimulate the innovation enthusiasm of university talents through the competition, and cultivate and tap more innovative technical talents."

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Group photo of the top 12 teams

Integrating cutting-edge technology, college students innovate for smart logistics

The JD X Robot Challenge attracted the participation of outstanding teams from many key universities across the country. Robots for the two operations of palletizing and sorting in unmanned warehouses, the core link of smart logistics, were presented in various forms, and the scene was wonderful. Among them, 9 teams chose the picking task, in which the robots took out the designated goods from the shelves and put them into the bin at the other end of the venue; 3 teams performed palletizing operations, in which the robots had to select goods of different colors from the scattered goods and put them neatly into the narrow designated bins.

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Robots are competing in picking items

Many outstanding teams in the finals made light of heavy tasks and were familiar with many forward-looking technical applications in the current industry. In the time-limited competition items stipulated in the competition, the operation time of the intelligent robot of the champion team was even only one-tenth of the stipulated time, and its technical strength far exceeded the expectations of the judges. From a technical perspective, many teams adopted sensor redundant positioning to achieve centimeter-level positioning accuracy, making the cargo stacking more accurate and in place; they used OpenCV's color and shape recognition system to establish a three-dimensional spatial field of view, allowing the intelligent robot to move around and operate unimpeded in the unmanned warehouse; the negative pressure suction cup gripper greatly improved the efficiency of grasping commodity packaging boxes; the mechanical structure of the Mecanum wheel to achieve omnidirectional translation and rotation in situ makes the robot move more agile and convenient; AprilTags assisted positioning to eliminate robot movement judgment errors; the 8*8 array Tactile tactile sensor supporting ROS initially realized flexible grasping and reduced damage to goods during robot operation... These cutting-edge technologies were effectively applied to intelligent robots by participating students, achieving excellent operations. During the competition, there were not only frequent exclamations and applause, but also sighs caused by robot errors. The participating teams showed excellent team spirit and flexibly responded to emergencies on the spot, winning the recognition of the expert judges.

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Robots are competing in a palletizing competition

The team lineup of this competition is quite wide, from undergraduates to doctoral students, from those born in the 1980s to those born in the 1990s, regardless of age and education, their enthusiasm and pursuit of technology are shining in the competition. Some of the participating team members participated in the competition with the dream of showing their technical strength in the world's top logistics application scenarios; some are to fulfill a dream of making actual robot works in college; some are to free humans from heavy labor in the future to do more creative work, so that smart logistics can benefit the future society. There are also several female classmates who are as good as men. Some of them have loved machinery since childhood and some have been independently studying algorithms. Li Junke, the female captain of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications' Water Drop Team, who won the championship, talked about the technology like the back of her hand. Their robot adopts a control method of full-field positioning combined with visual correction. The robot is fully handmade DIY, and the raw materials are recycled. It is processed by the team members themselves. The goal is to achieve complex functions with the simplest design, achieve the highest performance at the lowest cost, and have complete independent property rights.

The innovative technologies used by these teams from universities will effectively enrich the development system of smart logistics and reduce operating costs in the warehousing process. Relevant experts said that the students' in-depth exploration and bold innovation in application models, system architecture, machine vision, neural networks, motion control, autonomous navigation, etc. will provide more paths for the intelligent development of logistics.

Emphasis on talent discovery in colleges and universities to cultivate future innovative forces

The development of cutting-edge technology is inseparable from talents. Colleges and universities are the birthplace of talents and the user group that JD.com continues to cultivate. Therefore, while exploring the application of smart logistics, JD.com also pays special attention to the absorption and training of such talents with the greatest potential. The JD.com X Robot Challenge received 185 works from 81 colleges and universities. During the national tour, the total number of students participating in the event exceeded 49,000. It took nearly 6 months from the start to the finals, and a large number of outstanding talents and teams emerged, which successfully stimulated the enthusiasm of college teachers and students for research and development in the field of smart logistics, and provided a platform for technical exchanges and demonstrations for college students.

With the extensive participation of professionals, JD.com has also launched a logistics technology open plan for universities and industries, established joint laboratories with universities, conducted comprehensive exchanges in terms of technology and talents, promoted cooperation with universities, attracted more outstanding talents and teams to understand JD.com and integrate into JD.com, strengthened JD.com's technical strength and provided a broad development platform for technical personnel. JD.com hopes to continuously recruit talents, cultivate more outstanding forces with unique insights and development potential in the field of smart logistics, and jointly open up the road to smart logistics.

Provide the best application scenarios for technological innovation

Logistics has always been one of JD.com's core competitiveness. In the tide of the information age, intelligence is an inevitable trend in the development of the logistics industry, and the application and practice of new technologies are of paramount importance. JD.com Group CEO Liu Qiangdong emphasized JD.com's strategy for the next 12 years at the annual meeting - JD.com will firmly transform itself into technology in an all-round way to cope with the ever-changing world with technology. "In the next 12 years, JD.com will only have three things - technology! Technology! Technology!"

JD.com has accumulated technology over the past 12 years, especially with its large and sound self-built logistics system, as well as its advantages in continuous exploration and practice in the fields of big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies. It uses logistics robots to pick, stack, pack and inspect goods in warehousing, sorting and distribution. It has the most abundant smart logistics application scenarios in China, and has become an ideal environment for universities and research institutions to connect with the actual industry, innovate and practice new technologies. JD.com shared its own smart logistics practice experience with the participating teams, and the advanced technology and innovative thinking of the academic community will continue to strengthen JD.com's foresight and strength in the field of smart logistics.

Through the JD X Robot Challenge, JD has provided a stage for students to grasp the pulse of the times and give full play to innovative technologies. In the process of continuously building a smart logistics system, JD will also absorb more outstanding talents with an open and sharing mentality, fully explore the potential of young people, and incorporate the most dynamic people and forces into the new smart logistics ecosystem. In the future, JD will continue to use smart warehousing as a starting point, incorporate artificial intelligence into the entire smart logistics system, develop new smart logistics technologies, absorb and cultivate technical talents, support the development of the artificial intelligence industry, promote the industry to move towards a technology-intensive direction, and do its part to transform the social and economic development model.

About JD.com

JD.com is China's leading self-operated e-commerce company and the largest Internet company in China by revenue. JD.com is committed to providing consumers with the best online shopping experience. JD.com provides consumers with an excellent user experience through its content-rich, user-friendly website (www.jd.com) and mobile client, WeChat and mobile QQ portals. JD.com has the largest logistics infrastructure and network in the country's e-commerce industry. As of December 31, 2016, JD.com has 7 major logistics centers across the country, operates 256 large warehouses, has 6,906 distribution stations and self-collection points, covering 2,655 districts and counties across the country. JD.com is a member of the Nasdaq 100 Index and a Fortune Global 500 company.