Combilift has launched its first autonomous vehicle. "The Combi-AGT is a four-wheel electric stand-on model, which is the world's first autonomous dual operational sideloader for long loads," said a company spokesperson.
The new model, with a lift capacity of 5,000 kg/11,000 lbs. and various lift heights, addresses the requirements of steel service centers and the metal industries, which typically handle long loads. Its design is based on the electric manually operated Combi-GTE model, which has the ability to work efficiently in rail guided narrow aisles.
The laser-based sensors, fitted at various positions on the chassis, constitute of an anti-collision safety system, as required by the American National Standards Institute. If the machine senses that an obstacle or pedestrian has entered its path, it automatically slows down and will, if necessary, stop in cases of emergency. It will then continue to drive automatically when the obstacle has cleared its safety sensor area. The enhanced adaptive safety system enables the size of the obstacle detection fields to increase or decrease as per the steer angle and speed of the truck.
"The natural feature navigation system is superior to traditional methods of truck navigation based on wire guidance or artificial landmarks such as reflectors," said the spokesperson. "Instead, it uses the naturally occurring features in a warehouse - walls, racking and columns, for example, avoiding the need to add to or change the warehouse infrastructure."
Its newly developed load dimension detection system (patent pending) operates by performing a laser scan of the load to check that its length matches the task sent to the machine. Similarly, when unloading, it checks that the rack in front has sufficient free space to accept the load.
For more information contact:
Combilift USA
303 Concord Street
Greensboro, NC 27406
877-266-2456
www.combilift.com