FTF out of the box

Brief description

FTF out of the box is developing smart, driverless transport vehicles which, after delivery and one introductory trip controlled by an operator, can find their way in the factory hall, remember their surroundings and can be assigned transport jobs, for instance, simply using voice and gesture commands. Previous systems involved long and difficult learning and reconfiguration phases, such as the prior implementation of a location map or the installation of artificial landmarks. Significant savings are now possible for customers.

The challenge

Driverless transport vehicles can boost the efficiency of logistics processes considerably compared to the manual transport of goods. The solutions currently in place are either partially autonomous, i.e. pick-up and drop-down are still manually controlled by the user, or fully automated which means that special, complicated software solutions are needed for control. The operation of partially autonomous systems is still not very intuitive and staff need to be specially qualified.  When autonomous systems are used, warehouse infrastructures have to undergo far-reaching, costly modification in order to enable reliable navigation. Today's autonomous systems also lack flexibility when it comes to adapting to changed environments. If an obstacle appears, an emergency stop is triggered in the vehicles. Goods that are not at the expected location usually cannot be picked up. There is hence considerable demand for adaptive and easy-to-use driverless transport vehicles with low installation requirements.

Aim

In the FTF out of the box project, driverless transport vehicle concepts are being transferred to autonomous fork-lift trucks and developed further. The aim is for the fork-lift trucks to be able to find their own way in warehouses, to remember their surroundings, to find their way on the basis of landmarks and to respond adaptively to changes. Furthermore, warehouse staff can easily assign jobs to them using voice and gesture commands.

Technologies

Innovative 3D cameras and smart image processing software ensure that the vehicle itself can scan its surroundings, store a type of map and then find its way about by itself. The system is continuously learning and recognises when the warehouse has been cleared or if the surroundings have changed. What's more, obstacles and people are reliably recognised and safely avoided. All obstacles are captured throughout by cameras that can also be used for other purposes, such as object identification or automatic documentation of logistics processes. This concept reduces installation and equipment costs as well as operating complexity. The innovative optics used also enables gesture control so that all the user has to do is point to the pallet which the vehicle is to move. Or, the next job can be assigned to the vehicle using a voice command. Thanks to gesture and voice-based interaction, the system can be intuitively operated without the need for specially developed interfaces or interfaces with the warehouse management system. Special skills to control the vehicles are also no longer needed. Thanks to the system's technical design, no structural changes are necessary to allow the system to find, making driverless transport systems an economically viable solution even for smaller companies.

Use case

FTF out of the box in the automotive, aviation, foods and haulage sector will demonstrate in practical application that driverless transport systems can autonomously localise, pick up and drop down transport goods and move them reliably to the destination. Thanks to simple operation, a single warehouse worker is to be able to control several vehicles at the same time. 

Partners: Jungheinrich AG (consortium leader), Basler AG, Götting KG, Universität zu Lübeck, IPH – Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover gGmbH