Linde Material Handling is increasing warehouse safety by giving operators 360° visibility of their surroundings.
The newly launched Surround View system intends to address the 44% of warehouse forklift accidents in 2016 (according to the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV)) where people were hit or crushed.
Linde’s system is inspired by the increasingly common bird-view systems introduced in the automotive sector to assist drivers with parking – which combine individual images from around the vehicle to form one overall image – but the Linda system goes a step further.
The image display is based on live data from cameras mounted around the truck, but generates a split screen display of the front, rear and two lateral fields of vision instead of the distorted still created by the bird-view system.
When driving forward, all four viewing areas are shown on the display by default. During reversing, the display changes to the rear and two lateral fields of vision. The driver therefore recognizes possible collision hazards early on. And this does not only apply to pedestrians around the forklift: damage to goods, shelves and the forklift itself can also be avoided by the extended view.
Frank Bergmann, product manager, counterbalanced trucks, Linde Material Handling, said, “Every angle around the vehicle is visible to the operator. And this is particularly important for operational safety in areas where space is limited or where people and forklifts are likely to cross paths.”
The new option will be initially offered for all counterbalanced models with a load capacity of four tons or more.
April 6, 2018
