When you step into a warehouse, you are most likely to witness miniature trucks moving around carrying materials from one place to another called forklifts. As much fun these little vehicles may seem, forklifts are associated with almost 90,000 accidents every year in the United States alone, out of which one fatal accident occurs approximately every 5-6 days. Some of the more common examples of forklift accidents are such as being crushed by forklift or forklift falling off an edge with the driver receiving serious injury.
The downsides of warehouse vehicle activity have been analyzed and forklift has undergone significant improvements over the last decade, all thanks to the introduction of intelligent vision tracking forklift monitoring system.
These systems are capable of tracking, recording, and projecting important real-time data to warehouse supervisors, and vehicle operators, which ultimately leads to minimizing workplace injuries and damage-related costs. To ensure the seamless functioning of such systems and employ the intelligent tracking feature, it is vital to understand their operation and perks they bring in for a business.
Intelligent computer vision for forklift monitoring
The key player in vision tracking of forklift is Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI applies two aspects into this namely: computer vision and deep learning. Computer vision refers to camera caught images processed in software. The mini-computers and cameras are installed and they provide their connection to the cloud for real-time alerting and reporting. They observe and record all the action along with taking pictures. Unlike security camera which requires humans to review thousands of images over long hours, computer vision implements AI to markdown significant events of interest/concerns such as a vehicle left unattended for a long time, debris in the truck bed, a person not in proper attire in the designated area, etc.
The deep learning helps us to detect, recognize, and anticipate probable scenarios with absolute accuracy and reliability. The system can distinguish a person in an image from a pile of goods. The system is also able to recognize a forklift operator’s state by focusing on his body language and churning out possible outcomes. From identifying common carelessness such as hands not on wheels to keeping a check on warehouse safety standards, intelligent vision forklift monitoring system acts as an artificial warehouse manager of its own. The system not only detects and records an incident but also analyses and learns the reason for the same. The captured data helps it to identify the same occurrence again in the future and display a warning signal if it anticipates a similar incident is about to repeat.
.The benefits of intelligent tracking and monitoring of forklift
The benefits of intelligent tracking and monitoring of forklift
Forklift monitoring has witnessed big changes over the years with the introduction of access settings which includes swipe cards or access pins to prevent unauthorized or unwarranted usage of forklifts. The constant surveillance and data capturing means lesser chance of mishaps and overall better security in the warehouse. This compels forklift operators to be accountable for their job, hence increasing productivity.
A breakthrough aspect of smart vision tracking is the amalgamation with the Internet of Things (IoT). As a result of IoT, forklifts come with varied hardware and software products such as LCD screens. These days, it is mandatory for the forklift operator to abide by compliance and safety process and IoT happens to be one of the key points in a pre-start checklist.
Giving a wrong answer or any shortcoming in compliance will have the forklift vehicle locked, preventing any further usage by the concerned driver.
The following points summarize how computer vision tracking of forklifts is raising safety standards:
- The AI-powered system enforces workplace compliance by identifying workers without prerequisite safety gear/equipment. The ability to identify the color, work vests, machine tools separately, computer vision can ease out the work of concerned operators.
- Intelligent vision can also detect forklift anomalies which are not as per safety standards and provide real-time feedback of the same. Reading the movements of each forklift and their operator, the computer vision becomes more and more precise about maneuvering of the same. Thus, it can warn about a potential forklift malfunction should such case arise.
- Another great aspect of AI-powered intelligent vision is that it can identify and classify products by scanning their bar codes or any other sort of identifier which increases efficiency plus eliminates the reason for more workers than required. Lesser the number of humans, the lesser the chances of getting hit by a forklift vehicle.
- Intelligent vision can help in detecting fire or smoke and by raising an alarm or activating a trigger button, it can facilitate a faster corrective action.
- An unattended forklift or an unfortunate accident, intelligent vision can note down the events, only to rerun them during repeated occurrences. Such feeds make it more accurate about predicting a possible misfortune, thus alerting the warehouse professionals.
Intelligent Forklift tracking systems have created a more professional, smooth, and safer workspace in the industry. The data from these systems enable supervisors and managers to measure key performance indicators and check safety. Unmanned AI-driven forklifts are already under usage on a significant scale in many countries. With years, more and more high-tech monitoring systems are going to come with increased efficiency.
www.onetrack.ai/post/how-computer-vision-and-deep-learning-improve-forklift-safety
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