Rzeczpospolita journalists took a closer look at the potential of autonomous forklifts. They note that although Inovatica AGV is a small company from Lodz, its solutions can have a "huge impact on the functioning of much more experienced enterprises. The systems developed by her, driven by advanced technologies and algorithms, open the door to the futuristic future of the industry. The solution of the startup will allow specialized vehicles in factories and warehouses to move without an operator and communicate with each other."
The answer to the lack of employees
The article compares the ideas of Inovatica AGV to solutions that have been known so far from s.f. where robots can communicate with each other and complete tasks together. Indeed, the mutual communication of trucks and ensuring that they can work as a coordinated fleet is another milestone on the company's development map. Already, the hardware and software installed on ordinary forklifts turn them into autonomous employees. Although they are currently working independently of each other, they solve many problems in the warehouse and logistics industry.
“The business idea behind Bogumił Zięba and Wojciech Młynarczyk was created after talks with entrepreneurs who reported numerous problems with the internal transport process so far. It was about, for example, the lack of qualified employees, constantly growing salaries, and a high risk of accidents, resulting in damage to the employee's health and destruction of goods. The company's founders used their experience in creating indoor navigation systems and decided to develop an autonomous forklift as a solution to these problems. - describes the editor Michał Duszczyk from Rzeczpospolita.
There are several sources of competitive advantage. First of all, unlike many competing designs, the Inovatica AGV trucks do not require any additional investment in infrastructure. The forklift is oriented in space thanks to laser navigation and does not require the installation of ferromagnetic tapes or reflectors on shelves in the floor. Additionally, the so-called retrofitting, which means the installation of hardware and software for autonomous work on used trucks. Importantly, AGV can be manually operated, so if necessary, a warehouse employee can "take over" them to perform a non-standard operation and then restart the autonomous operation mode.
5G network in practice
Reading the article, we will also learn that "proprietary algorithms that enable autonomous work and laser sensors that collect data are only part of the secret of the future success of the Lodz startup. The key is to use the 5G network, which provides higher bandwidth and lower latency, using Ericsson's hardware. Inovatica cooperates with this company as part of the S5 acceleration program in the Łódź Special Economic Zone."
The entire article is available online at:
https://cyfrowa.rp.pl/biznes/58549-lodzka-inovatica-zmieni-wozki-widlowe-w-roboty-pomoze-5g
