TY - JOUR
T1 - Autonomous Forklifts
T2 - State of the Art—Exploring Perception, Scanning Technologies and Functional Systems—A Comprehensive Review
AU - Fraifer, Muftah A.
AU - Coleman, Joseph
AU - Maguire, James
AU - Trslić, Petar
AU - Dooly, Gerard
AU - Toal, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 by the authors.
PY - 2025/1
Y1 - 2025/1
N2 - This paper presents a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge autonomous forklifts, with a strong emphasis on sensors, object detection and system functionality. It aims to explore how this technology is evolving and where it is likely headed in both the near and long-term future, while also highlighting the latest developments in both academic research and industrial applications. Given the critical importance of object detection and recognition in machine vision and autonomous vehicles, this area receives particular attention. The article provides an in-depth summary of both commercial and prototype forklifts, discussing key aspects such as design features, capabilities and benefits, and offers a detailed technical comparison. Specifically, it clarifies that all available data pertains to commercially available forklifts. To obtain a better understanding of the current state-of-the-art and its limitations, the analysis also reviews commercially available autonomous forklifts. Finally, this paper includes a comprehensive bibliography of research findings in this field.
AB - This paper presents a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge autonomous forklifts, with a strong emphasis on sensors, object detection and system functionality. It aims to explore how this technology is evolving and where it is likely headed in both the near and long-term future, while also highlighting the latest developments in both academic research and industrial applications. Given the critical importance of object detection and recognition in machine vision and autonomous vehicles, this area receives particular attention. The article provides an in-depth summary of both commercial and prototype forklifts, discussing key aspects such as design features, capabilities and benefits, and offers a detailed technical comparison. Specifically, it clarifies that all available data pertains to commercially available forklifts. To obtain a better understanding of the current state-of-the-art and its limitations, the analysis also reviews commercially available autonomous forklifts. Finally, this paper includes a comprehensive bibliography of research findings in this field.
KW - automated guided vehicle
KW - autonomous forklift
KW - LiDAR
KW - machine vision models
KW - object detection
KW - sensors
KW - time of flight (ToF)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214499014&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/electronics14010153
DO - 10.3390/electronics14010153
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85214499014
SN - 2079-9292
VL - 14
JO - Electronics (Switzerland)
JF - Electronics (Switzerland)
IS - 1
M1 - 153
ER -