The award ceremony was held in the covered roof garden of the Dortmunder U. © IFOY

The winner in the "Warehouse Truck highlifter" category was Crown with the SP 1500 order picking truck, which scored highly in terms of performance, efficiency and ergonomics. The IFOY Innovation Check emphasizes the "unique ergonomics with many configuration options, which were developed directly from customer studies". It also emphasizes "the use in different aisle widths, a unique individually adjustable operation and the excellent field of vision".

In the "Intralogistics Software" category, DS Automotion took home a trophy for its Arcos vehicle software. For the first time, the solution enables AGV and AMR fleets to drive variably zone-based between fixed lane guidance, lane guidance with flexible swerving and free navigation (plannable autonomy) using a single flexible vehicle software. In conjunction with cooperative navigation, which enables the robots to take coordinated evasive action, the manufacturer offers a very efficient solution that can also integrate vehicles from other manufacturers via the VDA 5050 interface, according to the jury.

A total of five young companies competed for an award in the "Start-up of the Year" category this year. In the tight race, Hunic won over the judges with its SoftExo Lift. The passive exoskeleton is an extremely lightweight yet effective lifting and carrying aid. Skilled workers are supported by up to 21 percent when lifting and carrying loads. The strain on the body is reduced by up to 50 percent. The user is also made aware of incorrect movements. According to the judges, the major innovative leap lies in the design of the exoskeleton, which is made exclusively from elastic materials.

Two trophies for Jungheinrich

Jungheinrich won in the "Special of the Year" category with its "addedVIEW fork tine camera". The fully digital fork tine camera with barcode scanning reduces storage and retrieval errors. It prevents incorrectly recorded goods or storage locations in the Warehouse Management System (WMS) and thus unplanned search times, returns or loss of goods. The camera reads barcodes directly at the storage location, compares them with the WMS specifications and marks correct and incorrect compartments in color as it passes by. Acknowledgement is made at the steering wheel. Although the individual technologies are not new in themselves, "the combination in this exemplary implementation is highly innovative," was the verdict of the judges.

Jungheinrich also took home a second trophy. With the PowerCube, the company secured victory in the "Intralogistics Robot" category. This automated compact container storage system can be accessed from below, allowing for easier maintenance and variable ceiling heights. The jury highlighted several innovations, including the container loading weight of 50 kilograms and a quick loading function for round-the-clock operation of the robots without downtime.

The intralogistics provider Still won one of the awards for the EXH 16 in the "Warehouse Truck lowlifter" category. The truck is part of the EXH 14-20 Plus series - hand pallet trucks and derivatives with additional lift for order picking applications. The IFOY Innovation Check classifies the compact design together with the new functional tiller head and the resulting improvements in terms of operation and driving characteristics as "undoubtedly new". The EXH thus shows that innovation has not yet come to an end in this vehicle class.

This article appeared in issue 7/23