With record numbers of exhibitors, additional areas in the ICS conference center, and the usual focus on awarding the "Best Product"winners, this year's LogiMAT got off to a flying start. Highlights included a video monitor from EPG, a "SkyBot" from Ceilix, and an acoustic detector from Sonair.
Anonymity guaranteed. Image: EPG
From more than 116 applications, an independent jury of scientists and journalists selected new developments in three categories. With a laudatory speech by Johannes Fottner, head of the Chair of Materials Handling, Material Flow, and Logistics at the Technical University of Munich, the category "Software, Communication, IT" to an "Aura Observer" from Ehrhardt & Partner. This AI-supported system performs real-time analysis of video data with unprecedented quality – and anonymizes any potentially derived personal data.
Now operational
CEO Peter Bollinger kept it brief at the award ceremony and subsequent press presentation. Video data in the warehouse has so far served to document or retrospectively analyze incidents, but due to its technical complexity, it has not been suitable for continuous, automated support of ongoing operations. Approaches to interpret video streams in real time, reliably identify relevant situations, and convert this information into usable operational signals were lacking until now.
Best Product Award winner. Photo: klk.
developed jointly with NVIDIA, closes "Observer," this gap. For the first time, video data is used as an operational data source, and the image information is evaluated in real time without storage. The Aura Observer detects when something is moving and places the movement within its context. It distinguishes between normal operation and deviations.
Gap closed
In the "Picking, Conveying, Lifting, and Storage Technology" the jury was practically blown away by the . JustSkyBot," .look up"Ceilix CEO Matthias Estermann told the trade press. "There you have a lot of valuable space that is often unused in warehouse areas"Of course, the concept itself isn't entirely new
Ceilix: directly under the hall ceiling
One innovation is CeiliX's world's first mobile, omnidirectional cobot, which operates directly beneath the factory ceiling, systematically "productive movement plane" utilizing opening up numerous new possibilities – independent of room geometry, floor layout, or columns. The cobot can flexibly handle assembly, handling, and transport tasks. It is based on a modular ceiling rail system, "CeiliXElements"which is mounted to the factory ceiling.
Sound space explored
In the category "Identification, Packaging and Loading Technology, Load Securing," the prize went to the Norwegian sensor manufacturer Sonair AS for the development of its (Acoustic Detection and Ranging) ADAR sensor. The patented Acoustic Detection and Ranging (ADAR) technology supports the perception of autonomous machines using ultrasonic transducers, software-based beamforming technology, and object recognition algorithms to capture 3D spatial information by emitting and receiving sound.
«Aura» in the computer
According to the Norwegian manufacturer, ADAR offers a more cost-effective alternative to the widely used LiDAR technology. It features a compact, single-sensor solution that allows for cost savings of up to 50 percent in sensor and safety compared to complex sensor stacks such as LiDAR and cameras .
