Autonomous forklifts ‘raise the bar on safety’, says Seegrid

Thousands of injuries related to manually driven forklifts are reported to US health and safety authority OSHA each year, and a fatal accident involving a manual forklift occurred approximately once per week in the US in 2018.

Many companies are adopting Seegrid vision-guided vehicles (VGVs) as a safe, efficient form of transport in their facilities.

There is no comparison between human industrial vehicle drivers and their Seegrid autonomous driving counterparts – the company claims that injury and fatality statistics prove that its technology is safer.

With 1.9 million+ miles and zero personnel safety incidents, Seegrid VGVs are proven to be reliable operating in very busy, high traffic facilities, with ever-changing environments.

Seegrid’s navigation system allows the Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) to be more consistent, predictable, and reliable than human drivers, which improves safety and efficiency, and allows customers’ manufacturing processes to be as productive as possible.

Notably, employees who once performed repetitive, lower-skilled work can be reallocated to positions that add more value to the company while also improving the quality of employees’ lives.

Seegrid’s navigation technology is claimed to be unique to the Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) market.

Navigating with 10 cameras in stereo pairs, algorithms, and machine learning, the vehicles see the world just like humans do. Their eyes capture and build a detailed, 360-degree map of the world around them.

To prevent injuries and accidents, and to assist customers with continuous improvement, the VGVs will never strike an obstruction, reliably and safely stopping if someone or something is in their path.

The vehicles travel predictably and do not veer off course unexpectedly when encountering an object. This consistent behaviour builds trust among the vehicles’ human coworkers and assists management in their continuous improvement journey.

The vehicles, through Seegrid Supervisor fleet management software, notify facility management of the obstacle, thereby helping customers dramatically improve their 5S processes.

It helps customers stay compliant with OSHA safety guidelines to keep aisles and pathways clear to avoid injuries that can result from improperly storing and stacking materials. Falling objects into pathways create safety hazards, including dangerous situations such as crushing or pinning workers.