Understanding How Machine Vision Has Taken Over RFID in Forklift Safety & Anti-Collision Technology
As the ProMatDX 2021 Show has come to an end, we found that the subject of forklift safety was on the minds of many. It was clear that the technologies offered for today’s forklift safety still was dissatisfying to most and continued to search for the ultimate in operator safety. The consensus was that SIERA.AI Safety System S3 may certainly prove to be the answer based on the initial consultation.
The discussion revolved around the technologies of RFID tags, which is what other companies are offering today as a lift truck safety solution versus SIERA.AI’s machine vision technology. In order to better choose which safety solution is better for your warehouse, distribution center or manufacturing facility, we are going to discuss the technologies and how it applies to operational safety and the environment.
The Forklift Safety Problem
Companies have been on a long mission of controlling costs in their facility. The problem of accidents is evident in every plant. It comes in various forms including damages, injuries and pedestrian deaths. With constant movement, the environment has been absent of proactive solutions for forklift safety.
Proactive vs Reactive Forklift Safety
Visit any safety catalog and you’ll find a variety of reactive solutions such as blue lights, horns and lights to name a few. These are all helpful solutions; however, they are reactive in nature, meaning they do NOT prevent an accident from occurring. In addition, when a dangerous situation is about to occur, the reactive solutions are relying on the operator to perform an action. But even if they do, reaction times are still too slow for a positive outcome. A proactive solution can prevent accidents, damage and injuries from happening. It gives the operator an opportunity to perform an action and when they can’t or don’t, then technology does it for them. These actions are proactively preventing accidents, injuries or damage from getting close.
RFID Forklift Safety Sensors
The industrial market is no stranger to RFID technology. It’s used in various functions such as picking or identifying quantities and items on a pallet. So, it only made sense to utilize RFID for safety. Right? If you tag everyone walking around with an RFID puck then you’re achieving the utmost in safety. It certainly is a better solution than a flashing blue light, but as organizations shared at the ProMat Show, RFID pucks fall short in the safety department.
The shortcomings of RFID for safety can be summed up as follows.
- Firstly, every person: worker, visitor, operator needs to wear an RFID puck. The flaw is obvious. How can you be sure that every person including vendors and contractors, every day on all three shifts is going to wear the RFID puck? It’s impossible and according to the companies expensive as well.
- The RFID solution is costly to install. Now add on replacement and damaged RFID pucks. As a result more expense has been added to the bottom-line for the plant and facility.
- RFID remains a reactive solution. As a result it does not prevent accidents from occurring with pallet racks and building infrastructure.
- There are additional shortcomings, and that’ll be easily identified in the next section.
Machine Vision Forklift Safety Technology – A Proactive Solution
Machine vision technology is always on the lookout. Plants and facilities cannot expect a forklift operator to perform two tasks at the same time. The two tasks being; 1) Perform your job and, 2) Keep a watch out as you perform your job. Something’s going to give, and it’s usually the walls, racks or people.How does it work?
Take a look at the picture on the side. There are three zone areas: Green is the safe zone, yellow is the warning zone and red is the danger zone.
The distances between the green, yellow and red is up to you, based on your facility size. If a wall, racking system, product or pedestrian enters one of these zones the machine vision technology will know as it constantly scans every 60 ms. The constant monitoring is then followed by the warnings.
SIERA.AI was a finalist for Best New Product at ProMatDX 2021
Machine Vision vs RFID Forklift Safety Feature Comparison
Companies have been on a long mission of controlling costs in their facility. The problem of accidents is evident in every plant. It comes in various forms including damages, injuries and pedestrian deaths. With constant movement, the environment has been absent of proactive solutions for forklift safety.
Cost benefits of Machine Vision vs RFID Forklift Safety
The key benefits of machine vision vs RFID are:
- No need to replace lost or broken RFID pucks.
- Prevents pedestrian injury AND facility damage.
- No need for additional infrastructure in the facility including IT or WiFi as it works on cellular.
- Provides safety data to work with insurance to lower premiums.
How can you get Machine Vision forklift safety?
Machine vision as implemented by SIERA.AI will prevent accidents. In working closely with our customers, we can state that in 2020 we prevented over 11,000 near misses. What if that technology was not in place? How many of those near misses would have been actual accidents? What would have that meant to your operation?
We’ve only touched upon one aspect of the SIERA.AI Forklift Safety System S3. There are other aspects to consider such as connectivity, near miss tracking, visual incident logs and much more including automatic reporting and electronic checklist. To learn how you too can get the same results as our existing customers, download our free 5-Step Forklift Safety Strategy Guide below.