Two weeks ago, HdM researcher Tanja Brodbeck visited our project partner KALMAR in Finland to gain initial insights into how reachstacker operators work.
In particular, the visit to the Hanko port site provided important impressions for this: Even on this comparatively quiet day, it was possible to get an idea of how much movement of machines, vehicles and people of different sizes takes place there and what challenges this entails.
The following statement by an operator sums up the biggest safety-relevant problem very well: "On the road, you are the biggest road user with your car. On the port area, you are the smallest road user with your car".
In addition, the blind spots of the different vehicles can be so unfavourable to each other that the already limited visibility becomes even smaller and even more risk results. This is where our THEIAXR project comes in particularly well: With the aim of making the invisible visible, this is a particularly good place to start in order to bring about a great improvement for reachstacker operators and all other people on the port area.
Tanja Brodbeck also gained exciting insights into the remote control of cranes and automated terminals at the KALMAR test site. This gives a glimpse into the future, where the logistics industry can develop with the help of new technologies. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to thank KALMAR and the staff at the port in Hanko.
