 The 3-D Forklift Trainer from Tactus Technologies Inc |
Tactus Technologies Inc, of Amherst, has created a three-dimensional virtual-reality forklift safety trainer using company funds and USD850,000 in federal grants.
Tactus co-founder Thenkurussi "Kesh" Kesavadas said the 3D Forklift Trainer was based on physics, which meant simulator interactions and dynamics "behave very closely to [the] real world". The simulator had a customisation component, so clients could have their warehouses or factories custom modelled. It had a database to store "important performance metrics".
Kesavadas and CEO Jim Mayrose co-founded Tactus, which is a spin off from the University of Buffalo (UB), a research-intensive State of New York institution. Kesavadas is UB professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the UB virtual-reality laboratory.
Tactus started developing the trainer in 2006. Each simulator has a steering wheel, a joystick, pedals and simulated work environments.
Tactus says the major weakness with current forklift training programs is their passive nature, often limited to multimedia discs, printed texts and possibly videos.
Kesavadas says the Tactus trainer "is the only US Occupational Safety and Health Administration-compliant product with very detailed physics-based simulation. I am not aware of any other product that meets this criterion, even closely.
"Industry input from our beta site [Columbus, Indiana-based Cummins Inc] has been very positive," he says. "They like the fact they can reduce supervised in-floor training by substituting it with our simulator." Storing performance metrics helps Cummins see how trainees are performing. A trainee can finish the lessons in three to four hours.
The first commercial release went to Cummins' engine plant in Jamestown, New York in October. "They paid for the licence and for customisation of the factory environment," Kesavadas says. "We are now in the process of launching the product worldwide, and it will be available shortly for most industries."
The Tactus program has generic forklift designs and standard offerings for forklift classes 1, 4 and 5. Tactus can also customise a program to conform to the requirements of any major forklift brand.
Tactus' initial prices for the software and hardware, excluding shipping and handling, were: desktop version USD5,400; full simulator USD8,200; and customised version, excluding installation, USD20,000. "These prices have changed since the official release," Kesavadas says. "We are asking customers to contact us for quotations."
During development, in addition to Cummins' input, Tactus received technical feedback from forklift manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi; rental firm Sunbelt; retail end users, such as Walmart and Costco; and training centres, such as the Western New York Safety Resource and Training Centre at Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, New York.
"These potential adopters realise the virtual forklift trainer combines the best of both training worlds: the opportunity to do hands-on training [and] extend the record keeping and reporting systems available to PC-based training," Tactus says.
The Washington, DC-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has supported Tactus with small business innovation research (SBIR) grants.
One-year phase 1 SBIR funding of USD100,000 was awarded in January 2006. The two-year phase 2 SBIR funding came in two payments: USD377,174 in August 2007 and, after showing acceptable progress and performance during the phase's first year, USD372,826 in February 2009.
NIOSH is the federal agency with responsibility for conducting research and making recommendations for preventing work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Tactus intends to demonstrate the 3D Forklift Trainer technology at several events in 2013 and 2014, including safety and materials handling conferences and shows.