Ends stop-start frustration of driverless forklifts

The SICK Safe AGV Forklift solves a common stop-start frustration that slows operation and leads to wear and tear of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) fitting with a forklift: When the protective laser scanning fields are infringed because the forks are down, the AGV must be brought to a safe stop.   

Designed specifically for AGV forklifts with a drive wheel, the SICK Safe AGV Forklift integrates two SICK laser scanners providing protective fields in front and behind the vehicle, with a SICK Flexi Soft controller and a SICK encoder to monitor the speed of the vehicle. 

Easily incorporated into a new AGV Forklift design or retrofitted onto existing vehicles, the SICK AGV Forklift is a functional safety system designed to meet both current EN1525 and forthcoming ISO 3691-4 safety standards. 

Seb Strutt, SICK UK’s senior product manager for machinery safety, said: “When the SICK Safety Laser Scanner protective field is obscured by the forks carrying a load, or during loading and unloading, the AGV can continue to proceed at a safe speed of 0.3m/sec, without requiring personnel supervision.

“In addition, the SICK scanners operate a warning detection field as well as a protective stop field, so that the AGV slows when objects are sensed at a distance, reducing the wear and downtime associated with constant start/stop operation.”