Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and the Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services (CML) have successfully concluded the “Pin Handling mR” project.
The aim of the IHATEC project was to develop a mobile robot to automate the manual repositioning of pins on container wagons. The rail handling solution was tested under real-life conditions at HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT).
At the final project meeting on 1 April 2025, HHLA and Fraunhofer CML jointly presented the project results at CTT, demonstrating how a specially designed robot is able to handle the repositioning of pins on container wagons at the terminal.
The autonomous system, which is managed via the HHLA Sky control centre, independently navigates its way along the container train and positions the necessary pins precisely and efficiently with the aid of its robotic arm.
Currently, these pins must still be handled manually before trains are loaded. They are installed at various positions on the container wagons and are opened or closed according to the size of the container. Even if the system is not yet ready to go into production, the research project has laid the foundations for further development. In a potential follow-up project, the technology may be further optimised and brought to market-readiness in order to enable its cost-effective, operational use in practice.
Pablo Rossio, HHLA Project Manager, stated: “This research project has shown that the automation of pin handling in rail processing is technically feasible. The insights gained from this research now form the basis for further evaluation of its operational use. In the next phase, we aim to further develop this technology to enable its application in productive operations.”
Johann Bergmann, Team Lead Port Technologies at CML, commented: “The robot receives data from the control centre, navigates autonomously along the train and moves the pins it has identified with the aid of a magnetic picker arm. Initially, the system components were simulated and later tested on a demonstrator in the lab. Of particular note is the seamless integration of standardized hardware with a Robot Operating System (ROS)-based software architecture, specifically designed to meet the unique requirements of this process.”
HHLA was the coordinator for the project and supported it with its subsidiaries HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort, HHLA Sky, Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC) and Metrans. The project was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) as part of the initiative for innovative port technologies (IHATEC).
