On May 16, the highly anticipated “2025 World’s First Unmanned Forklift Scenario Application Competition” was held in China and ended successfully. A total of nearly 10,000 viewers watched the competition online and offline.
The competition was jointly sponsored by the People’s Government of Baohe District, Hefei City, and China Mobile Robot Industry Alliance, and hosted by the Industry and Information Technology Bureau of Baohe District, Hefei City, the Investment Promotion Center of Baohe District, Hefei City, the Management Committee of Hefei Baohe Economic Development Zone, and Shenzhen New Strategy Media Co., Ltd., and co-organized by Sinotrans Limited, JEE Technology Co., Ltd., Industrial Bank Hefei Baohe Branch, Linde (China) Forklift Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Hangcha Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang EP Machinery Co., Ltd., Hefei Gen-Song Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Anhui KED New Energy Technology Group Co., Ltd., and Anhui Digital Culture and Technology Industrial Park.
Wonderful pictures of the competition!
In this industry-focused event, the arena of the unmanned forklift competition has been given a new meaning. It is not only a stage for technical competition, but also a reception room for demand docking, a test site for technical verification, and a contact station for ecological co-construction. The collaborative model of “users on site, demands online, and industries on the chain” has broken the limitation of previous technology displays that only stayed at the product level, and has pushed the entire industry to move forward in the direction of “solving real problems and creating real value”. It can be foreseen that with the continuous deepening of the user demand insight mechanism, the unmanned forklift competition is expected to evolve into a “demand expo” in the era of intelligent manufacturing, writing a new paradigm for the development of China’s intelligent logistics.
In order to ensure the professionalism and fairness of the competition, the staff carefully prepared for nearly 5 months from determining the plan, selecting the venue, to building the plan, formulating the evaluation rules, inviting experts, etc. Shandong Free-Optic Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai KingNuo IntelliCom Technology Co., Ltd., Chengtu Automation Manufacturing (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., Zhejiang MRDVS Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Zhongda Shelf Technology Co., Ltd., and Hefei GEODOM Think Tank Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. provided relevant technical support for the competition. The competition venue was simulated into a real operation scenario, and high-precision positioning equipment and real-time monitoring systems were installed to ensure the smooth progress of the competition.
The 14 outstanding companies from all over the world participated in the competition. Before the competition, they conducted meticulous debugging and optimization of their unmanned forklifts, and repeatedly checked the key components of the equipment such as sensors, control systems, and power systems, striving to meet the challenge in the best condition.
This competition has two major competition areas and four scenarios:
Main competition area
“Efficient handling competition“: Participating unmanned forklifts are required to smoothly carry goods along the designated route, accurately identify the location of goods and avoid obstacles, and be scored according to the speed, accuracy and stability of handling;
“Complex environment response (safe obstacle avoidance)“: There are various obstacles in the venue. Unmanned forklifts need to rely on navigation and obstacle avoidance systems to plan the optimal path to complete cargo transportation, focusing on their adaptability and operating efficiency in complex environments;
“Precise stacking operation (shelf stacking)“: Test the unmanned forklift’s precise and fast stacking operation capabilities;
“Heavy load stacking test (cage stacking)“: Focus on the level of unmanned forklifts to achieve millimeter-level positioning accuracy and stability control under certain slopes and heavy loads.
The competition score adopts a percentage system, and is comprehensively considered from multiple dimensions such as completion time, operation accuracy, stability, and innovation. To ensure fairness, the organizing committee specially invited alliance experts, end users, college experts, association experts, etc. to form the competition jury. The following is the specific list of the jury:
Alliance Committee Expert: Wang Yong, Deputy Director of China Mobile Robot Industry Alliance Committee
Technical Group Expert of the Competition Organizing Committee: Ma Chi
Terminal Expert of the Competition Review: Jin Zhongxiang, Senior Director of Supply Chain Development of Walmart
Song Chenliang, Deputy Director of Intelligent Solutions of Geely Automobile Group-Jisu Logistics
College Expert: Kong Huifang, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of Hefei University of Technology, Head of Pattern Recognition and Intelligent System Discipline
Xu Hesheng, President of Anhui Federation of Modern Service Industries
Judges of the Competition: Liu Hao and Lu Mingliang
Scorer of the Competition: Wang Zhijie
General Commentator of the Competition: Su Sixian
Notary of the Competition: Shi Yuyang, Deputy Leader of the Robotics Special Team of Baohe District, Hefei City
After many rounds of competition, 14 companies showed their unique skills, and the final list of winners is as follows:
Kong Huifang, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of Hefei University of Technology, Head of Pattern Recognition and Intelligent System Discipline awarded the “Speedy Logistics Dispatch Pioneer Award” to the winning companies
Xu Hesheng, President of Anhui Federation of Modern Service Industries, awarded the “Holographic Perception Navigator Award” to the winning companies
Yang Ye, Deputy Director of the Industry and Information Technology Bureau of Baohe District, Hefei City, awarded the “Millimeter-level Precision Golden Rudder Award” to the winning companies
Yang Ye, Deputy Director of the Industry and Information Technology Bureau of Baohe District, Hefei City, awarded the “Intelligent Stacking Architect Award” to the winning companies
Yang Ye, Deputy Director of the Industry and Information Technology Bureau of Baohe District, Hefei City, awarded the “Product Feature Award” to the winning companies
Li Jinke, Secretary-general of China Mobile Robot Industry Alliance, awarded the “Excellent Pilot Award” to the winning companies
The successful conclusion of the World’s First Unmanned Forklift Scenario Application Competition is not only a wonderful competition of technical strength, but also the starting point for the intelligent logistics industry to move towards a new journey. In the competition, the innovative technologies and practical results demonstrated by various companies provided rich experience and new ideas for the application of unmanned forklifts in actual scenarios. It builds a bridge for industry exchanges and cooperation, allowing advanced concepts and cutting-edge technologies to blend and collide here. In the future, it is believed that unmanned forklift technology will accelerate iteration and upgrade, and deeply integrate into all walks of life with a smarter, more efficient and safer attitude, promoting the global logistics industry to usher in more revolutionary changes and create a new future for intelligent logistics.
