The submission form for Toyota Material Handling North America’s (TMHNA) University Research Program is now open. The sponsored research program, created to drive and advance the next generation of material handling industry technology, will be accepting proposals via its website, http://www.UniversityResearchProgram.com, through Dec. 1, 2019.

The TMHNA University Research Program was created to encourage and support professors and student researchers to apply their engineering and technical research to discover innovative solutions for the material handling industry. Applicants from North American universities will be evaluated on several criteria, including their possible impact on the future of the manufacturing industry, timeline and feasibility of budget. Applicants with selected proposals will be announced at MODEX 2020, March 9-12, 2020, in Atlanta.

“This program reflects our mission to provide customers – and the material handling industry as a whole – with creative solutions and new innovations,” said Brett Wood, President and CEO, Toyota Material Handling North America. “We believe university engineering programs are already working on smart solutions that can be applied to the material handling industry. Send us your proposals, and let’s build the future of this industry together.”

Winning proposals for the 2018-2019 program included projects surrounding virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), energy infrastructure, internet of things (IoT) and Industry 4.0. Proposal themes for the 2019-2020 research submissions in the following areas are encouraged; however, given the broad nature of material handling, alternative themes are welcome.

—Material handling for last-mile delivery, urban environments, piece-picking, reverse logistics and automation

—Remote operation of material handling equipment

—Warehousing energy infrastructure

—VR/AR for material handling applications

—Machine learning in material handling

—Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) for material handling equipment

—Industry 4.0