A self-driving forklift may be the next wave of warehouse and factory innovations, saving companies on labor and, ideally, making industrial settings safer for everyone. Demand for logistics help is soaring, but forklift operators and other skilled workers are in short supply. Robotic vehicles are one way that manufacturers and logistics companies can address labor shortages while running their operations more safely and efficiently.
OTTO Motors, whose autonomous mobile robots are widely used in automotive plants, says its new self-driving forklift can pick up and carry up to 2,640 pounds and navigate crowded factory floors using many of the same sensors and software being developed for self-driving cars.
- The forklift’s software makes real-time decisions about where it’s going and what it’s picking up, and can steer around people and other obstacles.
- It can also help avoid accidents linked to poorly trained forklift operators who speed, make sharp turns or drive with elevated loads, causing tipovers.
- Forklifts were the source of 78 work-related deaths and 7,290 nonfatal injuries resulting in days away from work in 2020, according to the National Safety Council.
- 70% of all industrial accidents are caused by operator error, per the NSC.
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