Once the Forklift Turns the Corner, Will Something Be There?

A proximity alert system is like a horror Halloween movie when the character knows there’s something lurking around the corner and asks, “Who’s there?” Of course, all of us watching the scary movie knows something is about to happen…it’s a movie! But in real life, forklifts can be just as scary. When a forklift is making its way to the end of the aisle it needs to do an action…turn the corner. But as we all know, turning corners is no simple task. You just don’t know what is at the beginning, during or end of the turn. Can it be an individual? A stack of materials or customer product? Both? That’s the purpose of what we’ll discuss today. What is a proximity alert system and how can it help with lift truck movements, especially those blinded corners.

What is a Proximity Alert System?

A proximity alert system is a part, an important part, of a forklift safety system where it constantly watches for pedestrians within its defined path and warns the driver that one of these two things are nearby. Different technologies can be used to detect people and objects. Some can use RFID technology. But for our purposes, we want to discuss the use of AI technology in a proximity alert system.

What Can a Proximity alert system…Warn About?

Within the SIERA.AI forklift safety system, we use proximity to identify the distance from a something to the forklift. Here’s how it works. Once you install your forklift safety system, which will take less than an hour, you are ready to go. After doing all of the login verifications and pass the daily checklist, the forklift will be ready to go. Once the lift truck begins to move, the AI cameras begin their job of scanning the surrounds every 60ms. As it scans, it is searching for something…anything that is within the pre-defined distance from the forklift. This can be a worker, visitor or employee, or it can be an object such as boxes, broom handle, other equipment and more. If the proximity alert system identifies a person, then the proximity alert system will flash a symbol of a human along with a loud beeping sound. If the proximity alert system identifies an object such as a pallet jack, it will flash a symbol of a box along with a loud beeping sound to signify that an object is within the predefined distance.

Setting the Distance

Every facility is a bit different when it comes to layout, number of products it has along with the size and shape. Based on these factors, you will want your warnings to coincide with your facility. Some may need s shorter distance for a warning, such as 8 feet, and some will want a longer distance prior to sounding the warning system such as 20 feet. Some may need both depending on how the forklifts operate within the facility. Whatever your distance, you can easily change the distance within the telemetry Dashboard.

The SIERA.AI telemetry Dashboard allows you to change the distance up to 33 feet in a single direction. Yes, this is a long distance, however, it’s always good to know that you have that space to keep the forklift, people and product…safe from damage and harm.

Contact Us!

Contact us today at sales@siera.ai or call us at (512) 817 0702.