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Welcome to our latest article in our ongoing Focus On series, where we at Industrial Truck Service do our best to strip away some of the shiny ad-copy about our products to bring you the details you need to make good decisions for your material handling needs.
Today we're going to be talking about the Toyota SEnS+ system. Short for Smart ENvironment Sensor Plus this is an operator assist system with pedestrian and object detection and truck control. If that seems really wordy to you: it is. Some things are hard to pin down in a handy name, which is why it mostly gets shortened to SEnS+.
We've actually brought in a truck with this system for our Rental Fleet so we've had some hands-on time with this system and its three industry firsts (see below for more). It's a really neat piece of tech and could really help give your operators that edge when it comes to being aware of their surroundings. Especially if you've had some close calls between forklifts and pedestrians, the SEnS+ system could be just the help your operators need to stay safe in our fast-paced world.
This is new technology for all of us, but with our partners Toyota we're here to help and look forward to introducing you to another customer driven piece of tech.
SEnS+ module
Here's looking at you, kid
What you're looking at is the heart of the SEnS+ hardware, and one of the many things that sets it apart in the field of Operator Assistance. This little box mounts on the rear of your Toyota forklift and contains the brains of the system. Along with the processing hardware however there's some other key pieces of technology here that work together to make SEnS+ tick.
Binocular/Stereoscopic Vision is one of the things that makes humans so good at many of the things we do. Having two eyes gives us depth perception and lets us gauge how far we are from things. It lets one eye see around obstacles that might be blocking the other, and maybe most importantly it helps us figure out where we are in relation to other things. This is exactly how SEnS+ sees the world; two cameras watching toward the rear of your forklift all the time and keeping a literal eye out for pedestrians and obstacles.
Not content to just copy what we have naturally though, Toyota added a little upgrade. Nestled between the two cameras is a Class 1 Laser Rangefinder. The Class 1 rating is key for safety, as this level of laser power is safe to look at even for extended viewing (you still shouldn't stare at it, but it is safe to do so if it happens). This rangefinder acts as a check against what the cameras see and calculate and gives the SEnS+ system hyper accurate measurements to everything behind the forklift.
Put together these two types of sensors mean that a forklift equipped with the SEnS+ system actively looks behind the forklift for people and things and will warn the operator if such a thing is detected.
Seeing the light
So just how does the SEnS+ system warn the operator that it has seen something?
One way the system notifies the operator that it has detected a person or obstacle behind the forklift is four lights. Mounted on the four posts of the overhead guard, these lights (they're about 1" (2.52cm) square) will flash when SEnS+ detects something the operator should know about. How fast the lights blink acts as an indication of how close the pedestrian or object is; the faster the flash, the closer the detected obstacle.
Toyota decided to go with four lights when designing this system because it means no matter which direction an operator is looking at least one light (likely two) will be in their field of view. Even if the operator is twisted around to look behind them (hand on that safety handle!) they'll still be able to see if SEnS+ has detected something behind them.
Technically there are five lights but the fifth is only there to let you know that SEnS+ is running, so one post has two lights on it. The active light is a nice happy green, and the warning lights are a "look at me" orange.
SEnS+ post lights
SEnS+ buzzer
Like a whisper in the ear
Okay so 85 dB isn't really much like a whisper, we'll admit. But that's what this little pip-squeak puts out. Noticeably different than other forklift directional buzzers, the tone this one puts out is designed to be something you can hear even in a busy and loud environment without being overbearing.
Much like the lights we just talked about, this buzzer has been placed with careful attention to detail. Mounted to the left of the unit and up within the protection of the overhead guard Toyota made sure the buzzer was protected from hazards while still close enough to the operator to be noticeable and immediate.
Also like the lights the buzzer's tone will speed up as the forklift nears a possible obstacle or pedestrian. The increase in tone speed comes across as very urgent, and if you're too close to someone or something it will be a constant "beepbeepbeepbeep" until you change direction away.
Both this buzzer and the lights are also individual components so if they do get damaged somehow, just that single piece can be replaced instead of having to order and run a whole new harness. The same is actually true of the main body of the SEnS+ module as well, but if you manage to smash that you likely need to take a hard look at your safety systems anyway. It's also pretty pricey if you manage to break it; so maybe don't.
Terminator Vision
Three Industry Firsts
Do you remember in the Terminator movies when everyone's favorite cyborg killing machine looks around assesses his environment? All that text scrolling, outlined objects, and ranging data scrolling by as the machine considers what's around it?
SEnS+ does that, as you can see to in the screenshot to the right here. You'll never see this output; the system keeps it simple for users, but this debug/programming view is a visual presentation on how the computer brain that runs all of this sees things behind your forklift. Unlike the Terminator SEnS+ does this to help your operators avoid terminating anyone. When Toyota was here to do training with us one of our Team had a little slip of the tongue and referred to our test mannequin as a "target." Our Toyota rep was quick to stamp out that phrase, reminding us that "pedestrian" is the proper term.
Objects are not People, but sometimes People are Objects
Because the SEnS+ system is looking for certain things Toyota had to bake-in a few definitions for it to make decisions from.
What SEnS+ Sees
- Don't hit people: An obvious point right? This is where one of the SEnS+ industry firsts comes into play; namely Truck Speed Control. Because the SEnS+ has been programmed not to hit people it is capable of actually stopping the forklift if it determines it is likely to hit a pedestrian. Because the SEnS+ is integrated with the trucks control systems (motors, steering, and speed control in particular) it will detect a pedestrian, make predictions about the pedestrians path of movement and speed and then do a couple of things. First: SEnS+ will start to slow the truck down: this is VERY obvious if you're driving it and is your first warning even before the lights and buzzer. Second: if SEnS+ calculates the forklift's path is likely to meet the pedestrians it will quickly bring the forklift to a stop using the forklift's regenerative braking system. From full speed to zero this takes around 15-20 ft (4.5-6.4m) in our testing. From the testing we've done it's pretty good about deciding between "close" and "crossing" paths.
- Try not to hit things: anything that isn't a person (or is a person if they're too close to the rear of the forklift) will trigger the SEnS+ to start buzzing, flashing, and slowing down the forklift. An important note is that unlike when it spots a person, SEnS+ WILL NOT STOP for objects. If you aren't paying attention you can still drive that forklift through a wall but at least SEnS+ will warn you that you're about to do something stupid. This is another example of Truck Speed Control.
- Don't back into things: this is an example of Backward Movement Prevention, another industry first from Toyota. If the truck is within a couple of feet (0.5-1m) of anything and the operator tries to back up the forklift will not move. The lights will flash, the buzzer will sound, and the display on the forklift will show a warning telling the operator where it has detected an obstacle (Left, center, or right). This close to the truck objects and people are hard to tell apart so SEnS+ will treat anything like an object because it often can't see enough of someone to decide that they're a person.
- Speed kills: Because forklifts are heavy they take a while to stop so SEnS+ will use Dynamic Zoning to change how quickly it responds to pedestrians and objects it detects. The faster you go, the further away the system will begin to slow down. During our testing we set up a mannequin in some coveralls and stood it up in the back shop to drive a forklift at. At top speed SEnS+ would stop us 15-20ft ((4.6-6.4m) from our test dummy. Traveling more slowly at maybe half of stop speed SEnS+ would let us get a lot closer before slowing the unit, often stopping us about 3-5ft (1-1.6m) from the mannequin.
All of this is described in more detail in this SEnS+ FAQ from Toyota, but the above is the general ideas that control how and why SEnS+ does what it does.
This is NOT a safety system
We and Toyota want to stress that SEnS+ isn't a safety system. There are lots of places it can improve (and is being improved even as I write this) and there is a laundry list of things that can cause problems for it (literally pages of them in the disclaimer section of the manual). The first, best, and last safety system you should trust is your operators. That's why Toyota designed SEnS+ as an Operator Assist System; because there is no substitute for a competent, aware forklift operator. To override the slowing and stopping that SEnS+ is doing all the operator needs to do is let off the accelerator a little and put their foot back down; the system will consider this action a deliberate choice by the operator to override it and continue doing whatever your driver is telling the forklift to do. Drive into a wall, over a person, through a pallet... whatever your drivers want to do they can still do.
The best way to think of SEnS+ is a vigilant co-pilot. It will tell you about what's going on and will take steps to keep you from doing something stupid but ultimately, you're the one in control. The beeps, the lights, and the speed control on the truck are all things to assist your operators in being aware of their surroundings, not to take over from them or automatically drive the forklift. Your operators should not over-rely on it and must remember that they are in control of the forklift, not the other way around.
Trust the machine, not the man
We here at Industrial Truck Service had a lot of fun testing this machine. It is an absolute trip to feel the forklift start decelerating and coming to a stop under you while the pedal is to the floor, and is something your operators will absolutely need to get trained on and used to before they're comfortable driving a SEnS+ equipped machine. Watching the forklift make speed and intercept decisions is a little nerve wracking at first, but the more you see it the more you learn to trust what it's doing. People walking toward it from the side, appearing out of aisles, standing behind low pallets; any situation you can think of we tried and would be willing to bet that Toyota thought up a lot more during their development and testing.
Having both driven and moved around this truck I'd be willing to stand behind it if the SEnS+ was fully in control. With a driver... I'd keep my head on a swivel.
That's a quick run down of the Toyota Smart Environment Sensor Plus (SEnS+) system. If you have any questions or comments you can Get In Contact with us for more details.
Keep your eyes peeled for our next installment of Focus On. We haven't quite decided what it will be about yet, but as always it will give you a breakdown on a neat piece of material handling equipment to better serve your business.
Just as a closing comment: I can't be the only one who had a bit of nostalgia when I saw the SEnS+ module the first time, right?
Johnny-5
SEnS+ Module
