Old production machinery has to be replaced due to changed requirements. However, high weight and limited space in plants often make it very difficult to assemble and disassemble big machines or to reposition them. Frequently, this is done by hand using heavy-duty rollers.
FORMIC Transportsysteme, a spinoff of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), has developed a semi-automatic transportation system for the replacement of production plants, which works like a swarm.
"Our system consists of several separately driven vehicles. Together, they can lift a weight of up to 40 tons and move it semi-automatically," says Dr. Maximilian Hochstein from KIT's Institute for Materials Handling and Logistics (IFL). For the transportation of heavy loads, up to 15 vehicles can be coupled. "They are connected by radio and equipped with cameras for self-coordination and synchronous acting," Hochstein says.
Joystick Control
"Machines and goods of various dimensions and weights can be lifted comfortably by a single person and moved remotely," says Dr. Benedikt Klee from KIT's wbk Institute of Production Science. Although joystick control works manually, commands are then obeyed automatically.
"The load is lifted from the ground and then moved flexibly," Klee says. "For transporting a typical production machine in manufacturing industries, three vehicles are sufficient."
Triple Innovation: Concept, Mechanics, and Software
Tommi Kivela, IFL, points out that the innovations consist in the swarm concept, the mechanics of the individual vehicles, and the control software. Theoretically, more than 15 vehicles may be connected to transport even heavier loads. "However, the swarm size is still limited by safety control."
The founders of FORMIC consider their potential customers to be movers of facilities and machines and companies offering internal plant layout changes and machine transports. They also address manufacturers of big machine tools, as the vehicles enable continuous production of heaviest machines.
FORMIC is supported by an EXIST startup grant, a funding program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection to fund startups from science, and by the KIT Founders Forge.
Artificial Intelligence Analysis
Defense Industry Analyst:
8.5
Stock Market Analyst:
5
General Industry Analyst:
8
Analyst Summary
:
FORMIC Transportsysteme, a spinoff of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has developed a semi-automatic transportation system that works like a swarm for the replacement of production plants. The system consists of several separately driven vehicles, which can lift a weight of up to 40 tons and move it semi-automatically. Joystick control enables a single person to lift and move machines and goods of various dimensions and weights. The innovations of the system consist in the swarm concept, the mechanics of the individual vehicles, and the control software, which can theoretically connect more than 15 vehicles to transport even heavier loads.
The article highlights the increasing need to replace old production machinery due to changed requirements, and provides a potential solution for heavy loads and limited space in plants. This is in line with the evolution of the defense industry over the past 25 years, which has increasingly focused on modernizing existing systems and infrastructure to meet the changing needs of the industry. In particular, the development of new transportation systems for military operations has been a key area of focus in this sector, and this article showcases a potential technological innovation that could revolutionize the movement of heavy loads in defense and other industries.
Investigative questions:
- 1. What challenges have been encountered in the development and implementation of the FORMIC Transportsysteme?
- 2. What are the differences between this system and other existing transportation systems?
- 3.
How does the FORMIC Transportsysteme compare in terms of efficiency, cost, and safety?4. How would the FORMIC Transportsysteme affect the defense industrys current operations and logistics?
5. What additional applications could be developed in the future to further improve the performance of the FORMIC Transportsysteme?
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