An innovative smart system for the safety of workplaces with mobile machines with remote command

The recent development of remotely controlled mobile machines for outdoor applications, where the operators stand nearby them using wireless commands, has raised the outcome of some risks, such as running over or hitting the workers and the collisions between machines, which must be carefully assessed and managed. This hazardous operative scenario is particularly critical in agriculture and forestry sectors which are characterized by hazardous peculiarities such as low visibility and adverse weather conditions. The current state of the art of mobile machines with remote control provides only some partial technical solutions for risk mitigation. In this paper, we present the technical and operative features of a novel smart integrated system based on the paradigm of Industry 4.0, which is able to effectively manage the safety in this particular sector. Once all possible obstacles present in the work ground are tagged with multiple passive UHF-RFID tags, the machines can detect them thanks to a RFID reader and estimate their distance. Once a hazardous situation is highlighted due to, for example, too narrow risky distance, the operators are informed via wearable devices by the on-board communication device. Then, the operators managing the mobile machine can stop the hazardous manoeuvre. A backend software overviews and manages this smart system. A proof-of-concept is under development to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed smart system.