Looking past the hype, it becomes clear that AI has much to offer materials handling operations
In March this year, Consolidated Fork Truck Services (CFTS), which is the UK accrediting body for thorough examinations, issued a warning to the forklift industry – it told businesses not to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to inform themselves about safety and regulatory requirements.
“We understand why people turn to AI tools for quick answers, but when it comes to safety and compliance, businesses cannot afford to rely on unverified sources,” Robert Fisher, director of CFTS, states.
He adds that, instead of looking to AI, these operations should go to the source and “check official HSE or UK Material Handling Association guidance or, better still, speak to a CFTS-accredited examiner”.
In delivering this message, CFTS was echoing similar warnings from government, educators, and others about the inherent risks of this undoubtedly impressive, however not yet fully realised technology. Fisher was pointing out the limits of AI.
So, as it now stands, what are the legitimate, proven uses of AI within the materials handling sector? And what are the benefits, to businesses, of incorporating it into their operations?
Improved safety
“AI delivers significant safety and efficiency benefits to materials handling by providing consistent performance without fatigue or shortcuts,” says Yael Fainaro, president and CBO at RGo Robotics.
RGo Robotics offers cutting-edge artificial perception technology
“The key advantage lies in AI's enhanced observability – it can detect and process information that previously required human observation, and do so continuously at scale.”
Importantly, unlike humans, AI systems don't get tired, distracted, or tempted to bypass safety protocols.
“They can constantly monitor operations, identify potential hazards before they become incidents, and learn from patterns to improve safety over time,” says Fainaro.
“This expanded awareness creates a foundation for both immediate safety improvements and continuous refinement of processes based on comprehensive data analysis.”
In addition, AI-powered autonomy that can adapt to the environment and perform a wide range of tasks, enables human operators to offload dangerous tasks and therefore, reduce the risk of injury.
In terms of products, RGo Robotics offers cutting-edge artificial perception technology with the capacity to transform mobile machines, such as forklifts, into intelligent, traceable assets.
“Our solution generates real-time information from mobile machines in any environment without requiring infrastructure changes or external connectivity,” says Fainaro.
But what specific AI technology does the product incorporate, and more specifically, how does this improve its performance?
“RGo's solution combines computer vision, AI, and sensor fusion algorithms to provide robust information, using cost-effective hardware,” offers Fainaro.
“A key differentiator is our ‘learning vision’ algorithm that enables the system to learn continuously during operation, eliminating the need for lengthy on-site training processes.”
The solution is supplied pre-loaded with trained networks and models optimised for materials handling use cases, leveraging both general-purpose and specialised physical AI models.
“For customers seeking enhanced performance in specific environments, our platform allows them to enrich these models with their own operational data, creating a continuously improving system tailored to their unique needs,” Fainaro adds.
Asked about the learning capacity of AI and the potential for errors, Fainaro points out that “for AI systems to meet industrial standards, they must be designed to mitigate their inherently probabilistic nature”.
She says that, for its part, RGo takes a multi-modal approach to ensure the reliability of its artificial perception technology. This involves multi-sensor integration as well as multi-algorithm consensus.
Efficiency and asset life maximisation
According to Jean-François Marchand, marketing director at UgoWork, another attraction of AI tools is their ability to identify inefficiencies that humans sometimes overlook.
UgoWork's AI-enabled platform enables batteries to self-monitor
“Whether it's streamlining pick paths in a warehouse or managing fleet energy consumption, the result is leaner, smarter operations,” says Marchand.
According to Marchand, AI doesn’t just extend asset uptime; it optimises how assets are used over their entire lifecycle.
“From usage-based maintenance schedules to smarter battery management, AI helps extract maximum value,” he says. “Fleet-intensive operations and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) offering equipment-as-a-service models can use AI to reduce total cost of ownership and create more compelling value propositions for customers.”
UgoWork specialises in cloud-connected lithium-ion battery systems designed specifically for material handling equipment. However, as Marchand points out, these products are not just power sources, but intelligent assets within a broader connected ecosystem.
“Our battery systems continuously collect real-time data from embedded sensors monitoring temperature, voltage, current, charge/discharge cycles, depth of discharge, and sub-system status,” he says.
“This data is transmitted to our proprietary cloud platform, UgoPilot, where it fuels a suite of analytics, remote diagnostics, and predictive maintenance tools.”
Beyond cloud connectivity, each battery is governed by an onboard Battery Management System (BMS) that autonomously interprets data and enforces real-time safety protocols at the hardware level.
"From usage-based maintenance schedules to smarter battery management, AI helps extract maximum value."
“Thanks to over-the-air firmware updates, we can push continuous improvements to deployed batteries based on aggregated fleet insights, without the need for on-site service intervention,” says Marchand.
In contrast to conventional set-ups, in which battery performance is managed reactively, UgoWork’s AI-enabled platform involves batteries with the capacity to self-monitor, self-optimise, and self-protect.
“Real-time data flowing from thousands of deployed batteries is continuously analysed to detect micro-patterns – subtle indicators of performance degradation, abnormal trend, or premature aging that would be invisible to conventional diagnostics,” says Marchand.
AMR cobot
The LogiRobot pallet mover, an AMR cobot recently released by Logitrans, is another example of a product designed with improved safety and efficiency in mind.
LogiRobot navigates via visual simultaneous localisation and mapping (VSLAM)
“In our line of work, namely internal material handling and transport, this solution will help with easy mapping and configuration via a Lidar scan of production or warehouse facilities,” says Logitrans CEO and owner, Gitte Kirkegaard.
“Mapping is done in no time, so you hit the ground running, and the return on investment is very attractive.”
According to Kirkegaard, the LogiRobot navigates via visual simultaneous localisation and mapping (VSLAM), providing real-time decision-making and maneuverability; and the presence of LiDAR and scanners by Sick, the well-known provider of sensors and sensor solutions for industrial automation, ensure 360-degree obstacle detection.
“The LogiRobot is a stand-alone solution, meaning that it does not require integration with existing fleets or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems,” says Kirkegaard. “In other words, there is no risk that it turns into another IT project, which never saw the light of day.”
In other words, operations considering purchasing the product can rely on the fact that they will be up and running with it within a day.
Concluding, Kirkegaard points out that pallet pick up is done manually, while drop off is automatic. This allows employees to dedicate themselves to more meaningful tasks, rather than transporting pallets from A to B.
LogiRobot works with rather than instead of them and is therefore, not likely to put them out of a job.
An extra set of eyes
As Sam Silva, Americas EVP at GemOne, sees it, AI-empowered products essentially “provide forklift operators and fleet managers an extra set of eyes”.
Gemone's pedestrian proximity detection camera is designed to enhance pedestrian safety and prevent accidents
“AI can help spot risks humans might miss, like unsafe driving patterns or pedestrians in blind spots, helping reduce incidents in your work environment,” he says.
Asked for an example, Silva points to GemOne’s pedestrian proximity detection camera, a product designed to enhance pedestrian safety and prevent accidents within manufacturing facilities, distribution centres, and warehouses.
“The AI is programmed to look for human-like figures so it can detect pedestrian movement and alert the operator with audible and visual warnings when a pedestrian moves inside the detection zone,” says Silva.
“This helps increase productivity, shorten training time for new operators, reduce operator fatigue and stress, and streamline incident investigations.”
With features like dynamic detection of pedestrians, real-time video recording while equipment is in use, and full plug & play integration with the GemOne display, the pedestrian proximity detection camera is designed to make it easier for fleet owners to train their drivers, identify near-misses, and in cases where accidents do occur, to successfully conduct investigations.
“At GemOne our customer experience and technical account managers make the adoption of our AI technology very easy for our customers,” notes Silva, adding that any warehouse running a fleet of forklifts or any other type of material handling equipment can benefit from AI.
Collision avoidance system
Matrix Design Group, a company focused on technology that enhances productivity and improves safety in various industrial environments, was an early adopter of AI technology.
OmniPro Vision employs proprietary software and algorithms to teach it what to look for
As Brian Jones, Matrix’s vice president of sales and marketing explains, the company’s experience in underground mining proximity detection taught it that operators do not like to use safety tags (devices designed to communicate with a processor on the mobile equipment).
“This ‘what if?’ led us to using AI as a solution to this issue,” says Jones.
As a result, seven years ago, the company developed its OmniPro Vision AI collision avoidance system. The most recent version of the system was released in late 2023.
“Our camera-based visual AI technology is supported by proprietary software and algorithms used to teach the system what to look for,” says Jones.
“We have five years of image captures that have been manipulated manually and by our visual AI system to reduce nuisance alerts and focus on what is important – people and vehicles.”
AI technology is at the heart of the system. Indeed, according to Jones, the OmniPro Vision simply would not function without it.
“It would just be a passive camera system that could not help the operator monitor blind spots or alert of people or vehicles in its path of travel,” Jones says.
“AI allows it to accurately see people and mobile equipment. It also allows us to customise alerting zones to better match a facility’s unique set up.”
Imperfection and the risk of mistakes
Significantly, when discussing the benefits and attractions of AI, Jones never gets carried away.
“No technology is perfect,” he says. “While AI has come a long way, it is still not as intuitive as the human brain.
“The holy grail of tech is a perfect system, but we are a long way from that goal. For now, we continuously learn and improve the technology as it works to assist people who are required to make hundreds of decisions per shift.”
Like CFTS, who were quick to warn UK-based materials handling professionals not to try using these tools to inform themselves about regulatory requirements, he is clearly aware of not just the potential of AI, but its current limits.
Explore the AI related developments our contributors are bringing to the materials handling industry in this dedicated Virtual Expo Showroom.
For this report we interviewed the following industry specialists: