The answer is two-fold: One, we want to find out what’s going on in the heads of design students and graduates around the world, so we can stay on top of our game. Two, we want to identify new talent, and be able to offer these young people a paid internship at one of Toyota’s Design Centers. For their good as well as our own. Simply.
In the 2016 challenge we shifted the focus from tow tractors to forklifts, and asked students and graduates to come up with concepts that would revamp or revolutionize the look and function of our vehicles. The competition was named “Forklifts. Like you’ve never seen them before.” The number of students and graduates attracted by the 2016 theme grew to 562 people. Belgian Fabian Breës from the University of Antwerp won the jury’s vote with his “Toyota Flock”, a set of automated logistic vehicles that can work together, and save both money and energy.
This concept explores on the question if a set of autonomous logistic vehicles can work together in a way that human-driven vehicles can not. Pricing, eco-efficiency and overall workflow optimization were the design drivers adressed in this concept.
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Fabian Breës, Universiteit Antwerpen
My idea was to manufacture Drone logistic system. New archetype of material handling vehicle whose centre of gravity changes minimally. That will save a lot of energy which is spent by transporting weight balance along with the cargo itself in case of conventional forklifts. Thanks to the “U” type architecture the drone can embrace the cargo by its own chassis and fasten it for safer transportation.
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Josef Cerny, Vysoká škola výtvarných umení v Bratislave
Toyota KAMU concept is a modular hybrid forklift truck. It combines pallet jack and ordinary forklift truck in a way forklift truck industry has never seen before. KAMU can operate alone in situations that usually require two separate tools. It is designed in terms of better usability and ergonomics.
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Antti Laukkanen, Sami Laiho and Valjami Räisänen, Umeå Institute of Design