Danaher Motion (Wood Dale, Ill.) has formed a strategic relationship with Sky-Trax Inc. (New Castle, Del.) to jointly develop and market an indoor collision avoidance system for industrial vehicles.
The companies will strategically align their respective technologies and marketing efforts to address the growing number of costly accidents AGV’s incur when struck by free roaming lift trucks and other mobile industrial equipment. By design, AGV’s are precise in their execution of instructions, such as route, speed, and direction. The random nature of free-roaming vehicles such as lift trucks, however, can cause concern not only for potential AGV damage, but also for personnel safety and lost productivity. The new system will also improve overall AGV route planning thanks to the knowledge of lift truck locations.
“We look forward to introducing this technology as a means of enhancing operations in mixed manned and unmanned environments,” says Jonas Rahm, Director of Engineering for Danaher Motion.
Users will have their AGVs, lift trucks, and other free-roaming or guided vehicles equipped with the Sky-Trax Indoor Positioning System, which determines each vehicle’s precise position and instantaneously broadcasts it to other vehicles in order to forewarn drivers or AGV navigation systems of impending collisions.
