Object picking system

An object picking system for picking up, one by one, a plurality of objects. The system includes a detecting section detecting, as an image, an object to be picked, among a plurality of objects placed in a manner as to be at least partially superimposed on each other; a storage section storing appearance information of a predetermined portion of a reference object having an outward appearance identical to an outward appearance of the object to be picked; a determining section determining, in the image of the object to be picked detected by the detecting section, whether an inspected portion of the object to be picked, corresponding to the predetermined portion of the reference object, is concealed by another object, based on the appearance information of the reference object stored in the storage section; a control section deciding a picking motion for the object to be picked and outputting a control signal of the picking motion, based on a determination result of the determining section; and a picking mechanism performing the picking motion on the object to be picked in accordance with the control signal output from the control section.