From 22 to 24 October attendees to the German Logistics Congress in Berlin will have the opportunity to experience the next development stage of the cubeXX concept car which was initially presented as a functional vehicle on the CeMAT. The cubeXX will be presented on a special presentation area in a number of different practical live application scenarios. Thanks to new sensor and scanner technologies that support dynamic spatial perception, the cubeXX can be flexibly applied in automated applications also ones involving pedestrians. In the applications there are many different ways to assign transport jobs to the truck. One possibility is the attractive cubeXX-iPad-App which can be used to set up, configure and operate the STILL cubeXX. Other means of direct setup and configuration are the Coaster developed by Fraunhofer IML or the SAP HANA® Cloud Platform made for the Internet of Things (IoT). The platform can also be used to administer the truck and will also provide means to administer cubeXX fleets in the future.

Currently the future vision of Industry 4.0 is on everyone's lips. The target is the intelligent factory characterised by adaptability and flexibility, efficiency on resources and ergonomics in business and value adding processes. However, this goal will only be delivered if all components of the logistics process - humans, materials and load carriers - are interconnected in a grid that integrates them into a holistic system. In the search for answers to the challenges of Industry 4.0, STILL has been engaged in a number of research development projects, for example the research project "Hub2Move" launched together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) in Dortmund and the contributing partners Stute-Logistics, LinogistiX, Lanfer-Automation and Transportanlagen Ryll. This project is hosted in the frame of the efficiency cluster LogisticRuhr and is promoted by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research. On 23 October at 9:30 am, the director of Fraunhofer IML, Prof. Dr. Michael ten Hompel and Head of STILL Corporate Communication, Matthias Klug will provide the participants at the convention with insights into the outcome of initial research and a perspective of the future vision of Hub2Move in the session "Practical Testing to Industry 4.0". “We have to drive forward the fourth industrial revolution in general and in particular the development of software and hardware for logistics. Adaptability, as we need it for Hub2Move, is only possible with application based IT solutions and matching hardware components. The interaction of SAP HANA, the cubeXX and our Coasters shows what such solutions will have to look like in the future," underpins Prof. Dr. Michael ten Hompel, Managing Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML.

At this year's CeMAT in Hannover, STILL was for the first time able to present a functional prototype of the cubeXX uniting the requirement profiles of a tugger train, low lift and high lift pallet truck, order picker, double stacker and counter balanced truck in a single unit. At that time the transformer was manually operated by an iPad application. At the German Logistics Congress STILL will present the advanced model in a number of different application scenarios. The now more sophisticated version with an extended operating system and new sensors as well as new interfaces provides far more integrated intelligence enabling Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things.

The open robotic system RACK (Robotic Application Construction Kit) which has been further developed by STILL and its improved sensor and scanner technology take the cubeXX another step further towards flexible automation making it an interactive robot capable to evaluate information from its environment and react to obstacles or unexpected events. With the support of the rotary laser scanner mounted on the top of the cubeXX, it is able not only to determine its position by evaluating given landmarks, but also to take and analyse 3D scans of its surroundings. This way it detects spatial structures and detects racks, pallets or obstacles on its travel path while on the move. "The innovations provide the cubeXX with software and hardware components that enable it to react flexibly to situations and adapt to them, for example, to stack pallets from where they actually are rather than from where they should be," explains Matthias Klug, Head of STILL Corporate Communication. STILL has fitted the cubeXX with a new extremely compact detecting laser scanner between the fork arms. With this scanner the cubeXX will accurately detect dynamic obstacles and adjust its navigation, for example, by changing direction or by reducing driving speed. "Industry 4.0 confronts sensors with new challenges. For machines to communicate with humans, sensors must be one thing before all: intelligent," says Sales Director Nicola Magrone from the implementation partner SICK. In this type of application SICK does not see sensors as mere data collectors for the smart factory, but wants them to communicate directly with other components of the machine, e.g. with its control system, or even directly with cloud structures.

As an alternative to the full system access via the iPad, STILL is presenting a new universal smart device the size of a beer mat to provide flexible control of complete cubeXX fleets in larger warehouses. With the use of the Coaster developed by Fraunhofer IML as the first industrial mobile man-machine interface for Industry 4.0, the cubeXX can be controlled easily and cost efficiently. The app developed by Fraunhofer IML and hosted on the Coaster communicates with the warehouse management system as well as with the robotic system of the cubeXX. This way an employee can receive a transport order while the Coaster calls the next available cubeXX and configures it to suit the needs of the transport job at hand. The device has been focussed on the crucial functions and is fitted with a high-resolution camera to read barcodes and detect humans and machines. This will allow to scan products, storage bays and containers when order picking, for example.

The cooperation of Fraunhofer IML with the IoT technology team at SAP has now also enabled the cubeXX to automatically complete transport tasks directly received from SAP HANA, for example, from the SAP Extended Warehouse Management application (SAP EWM). The additional value the project partners have created with this solution is the development of IoT adapters for the cubeXX that enable the truck to communicate with the SAP HANA platform and the respective applications via standard protocols. This is done in such a way that the cubeXX receives transport job data and autonomously transforms into the necessary configuration needed for the transport evaluating information about type, location, quantity and weight or size of the materials to be moved. Such a transport order can be triggered by an order, for example, or by an employee via iPad or by the Coaster. It is then processed by SAP HANA and transmitted to the cubeXX.

Users administering their data with SAP HANA - including data of machinery and trucks - are even going to be able to monitor, optimise and plan maintenance for complete fleets of cubeXX with the support of the SAP HANA Cloud Platform if integrated on level with fleet management. This system will provide users with a full overview of all master and movement data, battery conditions, utilisation levels, possible collisions as well as scheduled maintenance intervals.

The change that the future vision Industry 4.0 has initiated with the Internet of Things is fully under way. With the cubeXX, STILL has created a resource-efficient concept car with an intelligent man-machine interface able to efficiently solve future tasks in logistics and production with its ever increasing degree of interlacing.