April 28 is the "World Day for Safety and Health at Work". In scenarios closely related to industrial manufacturing, safety is a very critical topic. According to official statistics, forklift-related accidents mainly occur in forklift driving, loading and unloading operations, forklift maintenance, and non-driver driving. In addition, from the perspective of the proportion of accidents, the probability of accidents occurring during forklift driving is the highest, followed by loading and unloading operations. The accidents in these two cases occupy more than 60% of the total forklift accidents.
In the field of intelligent hardware industries represented by industrial robots, technology is an accelerator, and safety is the guarantee of stable production. VisionNav Robotics, a global leader in industrial unmanned vehicles, considers every detail and every possibility as far as possible in the safety design of autonomous forklifts to ensure the safety of workers, equipment, facilities, and goods at the factory's logistics operation site and reduce the risk of accidents.
Indoor high-precision positioning, multi-tag reminder
UWB (Ultra Wide Band) technology is used for indoor positioning and has the advantages of strong penetration, anti-multipath interference, strong multipath resolution, accurate positioning, and low power consumption. VisionNav Robotics applies UWB technology to unmanned forklifts as an alarm system. Based on UWB positioning tags, it can realize real-time positioning, tracking, and navigation of equipment and workers in the factory, as well as warning of high-risk operations in advance.
Compared with the 360° close-range safety protection design of unmanned forklifts， The response distance of UWB can be set between 1000mm and 4000mm, and we can say the UWB and the 360 close range safety design perfectly perform double protection functions, If the unmanned forklift leaves the observation range of the staff during driving or operation, for example, when the staff turns back to the unmanned forklift, or there is an obstacle blocking the line of sight, the staff can safely avoid the accident in time through the alarm reminder issued by the safety clothing and the label.
Avoid high position barrier risk
In addition to ground obstacles, there are also high position risks that need attention. High-position obstacles are often encountered in industrial workshops, such as rolling doors, indicator tags, etc. Unmanned forklifts will carry goods in and out of the warehouse. When the height of the goods is higher than these obstacles, a high-position collision will occur and cause the goods to fall.
VisionNav Robotics is equipped with a high-position non-contact guard sensor on the high-position protection design, which will set high-position protection conditions such as area range, arc, fork height, and rudder angle. When the conditions for opening the high-level protection are met, the unmanned forklift will immediately stop and alarm when it encounters an obstacle during operation, and then when the obstacle alarm is cleared, the vehicle can resume operation on its own.
Equipped with infrared mode, real-time detection of the safety of people/vehicles/goods
VisionNav Robotics independently developed the bright eye environment detection system. Based on deep learning image recognition technology, it can realize real-time detection of inventory location. With the help of big data and AI intelligent algorithms, the system can effectively identify and track objects such as goods, pallets, forklifts, and operators in the warehouse. When the system judges that there are operators or vehicles in the storage area, a corresponding warning message will pop up and send the information to the robot control platform.
In addition, the system also has good anti-interference ability, which can effectively avoid the impact of scenario and light changes on recognition. In the case of poor lighting conditions at night, the infrared mode is automatically turned on to detect the safety of people/vehicles/goods in real-time.
The first CE certificate for unmanned industrial vehicles in China
ISO 3691-4 is considered to be the most valuable unmanned industrial vehicle standard in the European Union. The most challenging part of this standard is how to seamlessly integrate various safety monitoring functions with the Braking System Control. Since the implementation of the new standard, TÜV SÜD has issued the first CE certificate for unmanned industrial vehicles in China to VisionNav Robotics, which also means that the overall safety performance of unmanned products from VisionNav Robotics has reached the international level.
Security upgrade of automated guided forklifts
System Traffic Control： During the operation of the unmanned forklift system, the unmanned forklift robot control system will monitor all unmanned forklifts in the system and conduct traffic control in all public areas.
Remote Emergency Shutdown： When the monitoring staff finds that there is an emergency in the control room and need to stop the unmanned forklift remotely, they can operate the monitoring interface button on the mobile and PC terminal to make all unmanned forklifts stop urgently to ensure the safety of staff and vehicles。
Non-Contact Laser Obstacle Avoidance: Towed unmanned forklifts and counterbalanced unmanned forklifts are equipped with non-contact obstacle avoidance lasers at the front and rear of the vehicle respectively. When the obstacle enters the laser protection range, the vehicle will automatically slow down or stop immediately.
Contact Safety Protection： Counterbalanced unmanned forklifts and unmanned tractors are equipped with safety strips on the front and sides. In extreme cases such as the failure of laser protection, the unmanned forklift can be stopped by the contact safety protection device. After the vehicle has come to a safe stop, the vehicle's tri-color lights flash and an alarm sounds.
Emergency Stop Switch: The unmanned forklift is equipped with multiple emergency stop buttons at the position of the body that is convenient for staff to operate. In emergency situations, the emergency stop button can be pressed manually, and the vehicle will stop immediately to avoid accidents.
