Winner material flow PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR 2023
Knapp: Open Shuttle Fork
1st place in category 3: Forklift trucks, forklift components and AGVs: The Open Shuttle Fork is an autonomous mobile robot for the automated and space-saving transportation of pallets and special load carriers. The kinematics of the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) enable it to move omnidirectionally and rotate around its own center point. This means that the Open Shuttle Fork can move at a 90° angle to the main alignment of the vehicle and, in combination with automatic pallet detection, can compensate for inaccuracies in manually placed pallets, for example. This enables very space-saving use and a more compact layout with narrower aisles than is often possible with manually operated vehicles. A special feature of the Open Shuttle Fork is the 3D obstacle detection in the main direction of travel. The AMR can classify obstacles as static or mobile and recognize their direction of movement and use this information to derive decisions and travel plans. Thanks to the fully electric lift, which is not a scissor lift, the Open Shuttle Fork can be used in all industries. It can interact with existing conveyor technology without the need to add special adapters/transfer modules.
The Open Shuttle Fork can be easily integrated into existing infrastructure. KiSoft FCS, Knapp's fleet control system, handles the intelligent management of transport resources and smart deterministic route planning. Thanks to a VDA 5050 interface, the Open Shuttle Fork can also be integrated into other systems. KiSoft FCS can be used to control vehicles from Knapp and other AMR manufacturers, as well as manually operated transport vehicles. The layout, fleet and processes can be easily controlled and adapted. KiSoft FCS makes it possible to coordinate fleets of over 150 vehicles. In addition, a simple simulation environment in the form of a digital twin is available to simulate changes in advance. Due to the simplicity of the system, self-installations by the user are possible after successful training. Open Shuttle Fork can be purchased at competitive prices in the form of an automation project or as a stand-alone product for self-installation. A rental model is also available for simple scaling. The large number of different sales models combined with the attractive prices ensure a high level of profitability for customers.
This article appeared in issue 6/23
The application phase for the material flow PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR 2024 is currently underway and submissions can be made until October 31, 2023.
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