New end-to-end digitalised production testbed installed
In 2020, the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), registered more than 31,000 workplace accidents involving industrial trucks and material handling trolleys and that’s only the count for Germany. While 46 percent of accidents were affiliated to hand-operated industrial trucks such as hand trucks or hand pallet trucks, forklifts were still involved in 43 percent of all accidents. These figures give an idea of how many industrial accidents caused by forklifts are registered on an Europescale each year.
The End-to-End Digitalized Production Testbeds of the SAIFE-project focus on reducing these numbers of forklift accidents on European shopfloors – in a first step, the food industry was chosen for primarly implementation. The goal is to provide forklift drivers with real-time information about moving persons on the shopfloor, in order to prevent accidents. This intelligent system works via decentralized AI sensors and visual detection, special software and tablets on the forklifts.
On 1 February 2022, the project team members met at the Open Hybrid LabFactory (OHLF) in Wolfsburg, Germany, for a demonstration of the newest testbed. After installing and implementing the system at the OHLF, their next step will be to collect data and make the system more robust. At the same time, the SAIFE project team is also working on special glasses that will help drivers detect people in inconspicuous areas - even through walls and larger objects.
"The testbed projects are an integral part of our Cross-KIC-activities. They connect partners from different sectors and countries and allow us to accompany and support the final steps of innovations until they are proven in an operational environment. We are pleased that the newly installed testbed in Wolfsburg complements the two existing SAIFE testbeds in Spain and the Netherlands.”
Adrian Bablok, Project Manager at EIT Manufacturing
The SAIFE testbeds are part of the EIT Cross-KIC-activities and and bring together partners from different sectors supported by EIT Manufacturing, EIT Food, EIT Digital with a project consortium consisting of: Technische Universität Braunschweig, University of Twente, Probilty, art21, AI Talentum and the Open Hybrid LabFactory (OHLF).
