It seems the autonomous forklift was initially developed for the US Department of Defense's increasingly autonomous logistics fleet.

In what other applications do you see this being useful?

Mining, festival construction, construction in general

If it can carry Totes that easily then I can think of a few industrial businesses that could make good use of one of those.

The following submission statement was provided by /u/WehnerEd:

It seems the autonomous forklift was initially developed for the US Department of Defense's increasingly autonomous logistics fleet.

In what other applications do you see this being useful?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/y78ywl/this_autonomous_offroad_forklift_weighs_onethird/ist48cx/

Good point. The autonomy would probably be useful for hazardous cargo too

Tell me you work behind a screen without telling me you work behind a screen....

The title makes it sound like a driver is 1/3 of the normal forklift weight... lol

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Yup. People still cart HF acid... Moving hazardous materials is an excellent use for this!

The autonomous tech sounds cool but don't forklifts often have extra weight intentionally added to help with balance while lifting large loads? Is there a reason they want it lighter?

Yeah, great point. Having all the extra counterbalance weight reduces operational range on a single charge of the batteries/tank of fuel. Having the vehicle weigh less also greatly improves off-road performance in lumber yards, outdoor retail (think- supply chain for landscaping rocks), and mines.

Human operated fork lifts carry the load in front of the vehicle and operator. They have to be heavy to keep their center of gravity below and behind the load, otherwise the vehicle can tip.

These autonomous fork lifts deploy stabilizers to pick up the load, and then position it over the vehicle for transport. They don’t need to be nearly as heavy, proportionally to their load rating, as their non-autonomous counterparts.

Making it lighter, overall, just increases their power efficiency.

That makes a lot of sense, thank you.

There is a type of lift called a "straddle stacker" that lifts without counterweight by having legs out front. Looks like this is doing the same with hydraulic legs when it lifts/lowers, but those can come up after the load is on the lift because it's centered. Pretty neat idea looks like it would be very stable on troublesome terrain.

Is it comparing to other autonomous forklifts or forklifts?

I think since it’s designed to not need an operator they can mess with how the weight is distributed a lot easier than before

Traditional forklifts… that are rated for 10,000 pounds at a 54” load center. Honestly, would autonomous forklifts weigh any different than a traditional forklift? Hmm