Real-time forklift tracking has traditionally required facilities to install supporting infrastructure. A new partnership between C5MI and Slamcore is taking a different approach by putting the positioning technology on the lift truck.
C5MI and Slamcore have formed a partnership aimed at making real-time forklift tracking easier to deploy across existing material-handling fleets.
Announced September 15, the agreement will see C5MI offer Slamcore Aware, a vision-based real-time location system for forklifts and other manually driven industrial vehicles, along with the Slamcore Hub device-management platform.
The interesting part is what the system doesn’t require. Rather than installing fixed anchors, antennas, beacons or tags throughout a warehouse, Slamcore Aware places a stereo camera, onboard computing and spatial-intelligence software on the vehicle. Slamcore says the system can be retrofitted to existing forklifts and manually driven material-handling equipment and provide positioning accuracy of about 20 cm.
That could lower one of the practical barriers to implementing RTLS across brownfield warehouses and mixed fleets. “The technology is as accurate as Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) without the cost of the infrastructure,” Marty Groover, senior technical fellow, Industry 4.0 at C5MI, said.
The companies are also positioning the technology as more than a dot moving around a warehouse map. Location information can provide visibility into forklift utilization, travel paths, congestion and material flow. C5MI plans to integrate Slamcore data into its Omnipoint platform and SAP Extended Warehouse Management, with REST, WebSocket and VDA 5050 interfaces available.
“At Slamcore, we believe precise, infrastructure-free spatial awareness is the foundation of a safer, more productive warehouse and factory floor,” Slamcore CEO Owen Nicholson said.
The partnership also reflects a larger shift in forklift fleet management. Telematics has traditionally told operators what a truck is doing. RTLS adds the increasingly important question of where it is doing it. That location layer could become particularly useful. A manually driven forklift equipped with real-time positioning can become a connected asset before the operation is ready to replace it with an autonomous vehicle.
Sources:
Slamcore partnership announcement
Slamcore Aware technical overview
C5MI announcement
