A new autonomous luggage and cargo system designed to offer a host of operational and financial savings to the aviation sector has been launched today.
Aurrigo, a UK-based autonomous vehicle technology developer, has officially unveiled the Auto-Dolly, which enables airports to move luggage and cargo around indoor and outdoor settings without the need for human operators.
The automated platform has the ability to navigate autonomously from one task to another, collecting and dropping off items automatically using a powered roller deck and the ability to ‘crab’ sideways when docking and parallel parking.
All-weather running is achieved by weather-hardened sensors and software processes that allow Auto-Dolly to operate in snow, heavy rain, direct sunlight and fog.
According to Aurrigo, a recent trial at Heathrow and a digital-twinning project with a Asian airport have proven that the technology can reduce the number of conventional tugs and trailers used to transport cargo and luggage by two thirds, as well as substantially reduce carbon emissions.
“Auto-Dolly will revolutionise airports by improving efficiency in the way aircraft luggage and cargo is loaded, unloaded and handled,” said David Keene, chief executive of Aurrigo.
“The autonomous system virtually eliminates all human contact, extremely important in today’s Covid-19 world and, unlike the tugs that are used today, every Auto-Dolly is able to carry a load.
“This results in improved space utilisation in the baggage hall, as no valuable space is taken up by a vehicle that cannot move something.”
Auto-Dolly is controlled by Aurrigo’s AI-based cyber-secure fleet-managed system Auto-Connect, which intelligently assigns Auto-Dolly in the optimum way to meet strict operational deadlines at airports.
Together with Auto-Dolly, Aurrigo has also released its Auto-Sim airport simulator software tool, which allows customers to map current operations and then model how to migrate from manual methods through to a fully automated autonomous operation.
