We are proud to announce that we have won a Handling Award for the second year running. A jury of six industry experts has selected one of our new innovations from numerous applications. Our sensor-guided SmartBrake for automatic stopping of manual transport trolleys was ranked third in the category “Warehouse, Commissioning, Intra-Logistics”. The Handling Award is bestowed annually for outstanding solutions for production and assembly automation and for innovations in handling technology, robotics, material flow, and conveyor technology. This year, the prize was awarded in an online event for the first time. The ceremony took place on October 7 during the digital tradeshow “INDUSTRIAL production + handling” hosted by German publisher WEKA.

Our prize-winning SmartBrake enables the fully automatic stopping of trolleys and loads if the track is blocked by an obstacle or when the operator stops pushing. This is enabled by special sensors with pattern detection active in two directions. Sensors at the rear detect the step pattern and activate the brake as soon as the operator stops pushing. Upon restarting, the brake is released. Sensory obstacle detection towards the front automatically stops the platform if people or objects block the path. The self-reinforcing system is not subject to load limitation and can be adapted for all manually operated transport trolleys for LOXrail^© floor rails with a 25 or 40-mm diameter.