Forklifts And The AI Revolution

Artificial intelligence has a grip on almost every aspect of American business. Now it is about to engulf the forklift trade.

Thanks to technologies including telematics, forklift operation is becoming a lot more efficient. However, those in the know say that artificial intelligence will make the lift even more efficient.

AI Forklifts

Artificial intelligence incorporated into forklifts will make operation much safer. In essence, it will do away with accidents due to human error, which is the biggest reason for downtime, especially in the manufacturing and construction industry. We know that automated forklifts can make an impact on productivity. The impact will be even greater with AI.

AI will speed up work speed and improve profit margins.

AI is already being used on forklifts and other equipment involved in the construction industry. Right now autonomous forklifts are doing the job, but soon AI will lead to profit gains of as much as 38 percent by 2035, even sooner if bigger and faster technological discoveries are made. As AI begins to saturate the forklift market, autonomous devices will become more affordable for construction applications.

Already there are AI devices on the market that are easy to manage and make the day-to-day routine of forklift operation so much simpler.

AI Technology

What separates AI from today’s autonomous forklifts is in the software. Advance technology allows lifts to stack objects and load and unload items from trucks. They can now perform repetitive tasks and can better track human activity and patterns, which is essential in avoiding collisions and injuries. They are more efficient when traveling quickly, which allures companies to them in the first place.

AI removes the tedium of traveling back and forth between shelves and loading trucks. The day-to-day routine can cause forklift operators to quickly lose interest and become less efficient. AI forklifts does away with this concern. These lifts can be programmed to make the same maneuvers and trips time and time again without any effect of worker fatigue. These machines make it practical for warehouse and construction site managers to assign human drivers to tasks that are more complicating.

AI And Safer Forklift Operations

When considering how AI can make your operations more efficient and safer, consider this. In 2018, 22 percent of all injuries that occurred in the construction trade happen due to improper use and handling of equipment. In the case of forklifts, you are already aware that they can make long and dangerous traverses over floors with different textures. You all know that using forklifts along with truck tail lifts and transporting lifts down steep hills can lead to catastrophic accidents.

With AI, these issues no longer apply. The technology can detect unstable floor textures and change the speed of the lift accordingly. And since AI forklifts are driverless, there is no chance that a driver can be injured.

AI forklifts include built-in sensors that detect human activity. They can see a pattern in the way the operator is driving the unit and thus prevent accidents.

Since the sensors are still being developed and enhanced, there is still some fear in the industry that AI forklifts are not ready to prevent human caused accidents. Bad publicity has also made managers reluctant to use AI. Stories have been published reporting driverless cars failing to stop for pedestrians. And since AI in forklifts is a new concept, there are problems concerning compensation of injured parties. It will have to be determined who is at fault in a driverless vehicle collision.

No doubt the quality of motion sensors and safety mechanisms will improve over time.

Job Security

Of course, another factor that is slowing down the use of AI in forklifts is job security. No doubt forklift drivers have heard that the advent of AI will lead to worker layoffs. That is not necessarily the case. As AI evolves into forklift operation, human drivers will be free to get involved in more sophisticated tasks. In other words, with the coming of AI, other jobs will open up in other areas of construction and there will be a paradigm shift in jobs perceived as important.

It is possible that the use of AI forklifts will create a whole new subsection of jobs from re-programming to repairing the advanced machines. These jobs could pay more than the current forklift driver jobs.

Forklift Manufacturers Who Are Developing AI

Siera.AI, a startup tech company based in Austin, Texas, is one company that is now working on AI forklifts. Their lifts are programmed to detect risky driver behavior and unobserved risks and prevent accidents before they occur. The company says that forklifts you already have in hand can be equipped with the software to make them AI. Company spokesman liken the concept with including a “co-pilot” with the forklift operator.

Siera.AI system depends on accident prevention and cloud-based data collection and reporting. Once a forklift has the Siera Safety System (S3) device and software installed, it automatically senses and stops the vehicle from colliding with people, pallets, totes, and racks without driver intervention. Meanwhile, the S3 software will also be tracking the forklift’s movements and deliver real-time performance data to management for analysis and insight into behavior, accident-prone areas in a facility, and how to best proceed. Any forklift, regardless of maker, can be retrofitted with the software.

Stocked Robotics is another company that has AI software and hardware that can be retrofitted onto an existing forklift. The retrofitting can take place without the need to change warehouse infrastructure.

Toyota has Autopilot forklifts that can operate together with other automated equipment including palletizers, robots, automatic doors, conveyors and fire alarms.

The Future

The aim of the future use of AI forklifts is to achieve precision. These machines will do much more than transport products. They will perform tasks with more precision. For example, if a forklift drops a product, it will be able to correct the error and actually retrieve the dropped goods and possibly catch them before they hit the ground.

With AI forklifts, the future will be a time when there are no forklift accidents or deaths due to the accidents. These machines will be 100 percent reliable.

(Sources: mmh.com and hiremech.co.uk)