Yale Reliant Operator Assist System (OAS) | 2022-2023

Designer: Yale Lift Truck Technologies, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
Manufacturer: Yale Lift Truck Technologies, Greenville, North Carolina, USA

The global worker shortage and high warehouse labor turnover mean that inexperienced lift truck operators are increasingly common. And inexperience can risk lift truck incidents such as collisions and tip-overs. In fact, approximately 7,300 lift truck-related incidents occur each year. This increased risk of incidents and injuries can in turn threaten productivity, but warehouses are still expected to get every order out the door on time, every day. The Yale Reliant suite of operator assistance technologies is designed to help warehouses reinforce lift truck operating best practices and prioritize safety by dramatically modifying lift truck performance to keep operators aware of the truck, load, and their surroundings. The technology automatically adjusts lift truck travel speed, acceleration, lift height, lift speed, and fork tilt based on what the systems sense from the surrounding environment and the status of the truck and load.

Available on 18 lift truck models, the Yale Reliant solution uses multiple detection technologies to monitor the surrounding environment and the status of the lift truck and load. Where other approaches provide audible alerts, which can get lost in the din of a busy warehouse environment, Yale Reliant automatically adjusts lift truck performance so that operators are alerted by feeling the truck respond, helping reinforce best practices to support truck stability while keeping the operator in control of the truck. For example, Yale Reliant can assist with operator awareness by proactively reducing truck speed if it detects something in the monitored area, such as other trucks, pedestrians, or other obstacles, helping provide operators with increased reaction time and giving real-time feedback to the operator. The solution is already commercially deployed on 4,750 lift truck units.

Further real-world capabilities of Yale Reliant include:

Preventing operators from lifting and carrying loads that exceed the truck’s weight limit

Automatically reducing speed when cornering to maintain stability

Discouraging equipment from entering designated pedestrian-only zones

Restricting fork height in designated locations to help avoid low-hanging beams or other obstacles

Automatically slowing truck speed when approaching the end of an aisle or intersection

Limiting speed and acceleration when moving in pedestrian-heavy areas

Monitoring the combined center of gravity of the lift truck and load so that it can automatically intervene when necessary in a way that does not upset truck stability