The Revolution Blog

When forklifts talk to each other

Friday, Apr 27, 2018

The notion of smart forklifts is nothing new in an age where drones and self-driving cars are gunning to outperform us all. But the Rochester Institute of Technology is really thinking next-level intelligent materials handling systems. They’re formally teaming up with Raymond Corp. to design and prototype intelligent systems for a fleet of autonomous forklifts to revolutionize warehouse productivity and safety.

“In terms of automation in warehousing, the most expensive thing is labor. Looking at automating warehouse processes, an automated vehicle could be working 24/7,” said professor Mike Kuhl, the project’s team leader. “This is a research project that is for developing new material handling methods potentially benefitting the whole industry. Kuhl and his team of researchers envision a fleet of self-driving forklifts that communicate with each other, determining which tasks to do based on machine learning and autonomous technologies.

Some of their challenges include defining the routes and determining the decisions that need to be made.

Welcome, robot overlords. We speak pure productivity, too.

Leave a comment

Add Comment Cancel

Comments