As time marches forward, technology eventually catches up with every business- and the materials handling industry is no different. The latest trend is an underlying debate over so-called” robotic” forklifts.
More popular at the moment in Europe, these robotic forklifts do offer some advantages, but at this point- as we’ll see here- the potential pitfalls are outweighing the positives.
Mostly used in horizontal applications like order-picking and transportation of materials, the robotic lifts navigate using a complex system of lasers, reflectors, magnets and wires embedded in the facility to dictate their routes.
Some facilities with multiple units have seen some traffic issues as their robotic forklifts attempt to pass each other in tight aisles. This would mean many warehouses would have to redesign their facilities to create wider passage.
As for safety- so far so good. Robotic forklifts must follow all the same safety guidelines and regulations as the manned lifts. They also must be able to slow down or stop to prevent an accident.
Operators for these robotic forklifts are still necessary to dictate to the units where they are headed in the warehouse. Most make use of an operator that walks behind the vehicle. So, these robotic forklifts aren’t taking away any jobs just yet.
Some of the productivity math isn’t quite there yet either.
In one of the examples we’ve seen, a product-picking robotic forklift selected one case every 20 seconds, or about 200 cases an hour. If system latency (computer lag) causes even as little as a five-second delay that will result in a nearly 25% decrease in productivity. In this example, if the facility shipped one million cases a week- that’s a 1.6-million-dollar expense. This latency could be what keeps robotic forklifts out of most US warehouses in the near future.
Their time will likely come, but for right now the good old-fashioned manned forklifts remain the norm here in the US. Got questions about any kind of forklift? Our experts can help, call (704) 842-3242!