Manufacturing line/Port equipment/Rubber-tired gantry crane
Autonomous · Port equipment

Rubber-tired gantry crane

A yard crane that drives itself between blocks on battery power.

Phase 5 · 2031+Concept design
Moves / hour
45
sustained · 48 at the 75 s cycle
Per lift
1 × 40 ft
Gross weight
≈ 68.5 t
Metal content
≈ 90%
I · Blueprint
Side elevation, live systems
SPAN · 6 ROWS + TRUCK LANETRUCK LANE12345+11-OVER-5 · LOAD CLEARS 5 HIGHTyre 18.00x25 · 10 barTwin girdersKnee braceBusbar top-up, block endTruckAMax yard slope 1:100 · auto-steer ±100 mm01020304050607080910VIEW A–A · SIDE ALONG THE BLOCKGirder end beamLegSill beamBattery room under the sillHub motor, 22 kW, in each tyreBusbar top-upTyres, 2 per corner8 tyres 18.00x25 at 10 bar · ≤ 25 t per tyre · 8 × 22 kW hub motorsDETAIL D · CRAB STEERING, PLANTyres turn 90°to change blockSill beamGirderAuto-steering holds a virtual railto ±100 mm along the blockGantry 130 m/min (≈ 8 km/h)SECTION B–B · TROLLEY & REEVINGTrolley driveHoist motor + brakeHoist drumGirder rail8 ropes to the headblock damp swayand cut the settle time at landingSpreader: the only hydraulics on the craneTelescopes 20 / 40 ft · twin 2 × 20 ftHoist 54 m/min loaded, 108 empty · 550 kWTrolley 80 m/min · 2 × 30 kW
01Gantry frame & sill beamsStructure
02Main girders — twinStructure
03Trolley — hoist drum & 550 kW motor on boardHandling
048-rope reeving, headblock & telescopic spreaderHandling
05Yard stack — 1-over-5, 6 wide + truck laneHandling
06Battery pack — 296 kWh, under the sill beamPower
07Rubber tires × 8 — 90° crab steeringDrive
08Hub motors — 8 × 22 kW, direct, no chainDrive
09Stack-collision & truck-guiding sensorsStructure
10Busbar top-up collectorPower
II · Power & drivetrain

No diesel generator, no cable.

A battery pack replaces the diesel genset. It recharges from lowering energy and short top-ups at block ends, so the crane can change blocks freely.

Battery hoist machinery — rotating view
A 296 kWh battery and inverter sit on the sill beam where the diesel genset used to be. On the trolley a 550 kW hoist motor drives the drum; the ropes pay out to the headblock. Eight rubber-tyred wheels carry their own 22 kW motors; the charging arm at left docks at block ends.
01Battery pack — 296 kWh, liquid-cooled, 12 modules
02Traction inverter & DC bus — feeds hoist, trolley and wheel drives
03Hoist motor — 550 kW, regenerative, 54 m/min loaded, 108 empty
04Hoist gearbox & drum — 1.0 m, grooved
058-rope reeving, headblock & telescopic spreader — 41 t
06Trolley frame — 2 × 30 kW drives, 80 m/min
07Wheel motors — 8 × 22 kW in the tyre hubs, 130 m/min, 90° crab steer
08Charging arm — 300 kW top-up at block ends
Tyre & hub motor
Tyres8 × 18.00x25 at 10 bar, 2 per corner
Hub motors8 × 22 kW, planetary reduction 58:1
Steering90° crab steer, virtual rail ±100 mm
Gantry speed130 m / min
Tyre load≤ 25 t per tyre
Naked drivetrain — energy to motion
III · How it is put together

Built in blocks, joined, then brought to life.

Blocks are fabricated in parallel, joined in sequence, and the power module and autonomy core go in last. The loop below replays the build order.

POWER MODULE
I
Structural members fabricated
II
Frame erected & aligned
III
Drive & power package installed
IV
Sensors & autonomy calibrated
V
Commissioned on the terminal
IV · Specification

Concept specification.

Design specification for the autonomous rubber-tired gantry crane.

Span
6 rows + truck lane
Stacking
1-over-5
Safe working load
41 t
Containers per lift
1 × 40 ft or 2 × 20 ft
Moves per hour
45 sustained · 48 at the 75 s cycle
Gross weight
≈ 68.5 t
Metal content
≈ 90% steel
Battery
296 kWh · 300 kW top-ups
Consumption
≈ 60 kWh / hr at 45 moves / hr
Endurance
≈ 4 hr on the pack; 3 top-ups of 15 min a shift
Hoist drive
1 × 550 kW
Hoist speed
54 m/min loaded · 108 m/min empty
Trolley
80 m / min · 2 × 30 kW
Gantry drive
8 × 22 kW hub motors, 130 m / min, 90° crab steer
Installed power
≈ 0.8 MW
Crew
0 · no cab
Onboard compute
Two AI modules watch the stack and the truck lane; a certified controller holds the safe envelope
Modules2 AI modules (stack zone; truck lane) + 1 certified safety controller
CPU32 cores (2 × 16) + 4 lockstep real-time cores per module
AI throughput10,000 TOPS total (2 × 5,000, INT8 / FP4 sparse)
Memory2 × 128 GB LPDDR6, 600 GB/s per module
Power draw200 W compute; ≈ 0.4 kW with 16 cameras, 6 lidars and 2 radars — 0.7% of the crane’s ≈ 60 kW average draw
Process node2 nm-class SoC; safety controller on a mature 16 nm node, 15-year supply. Compute is a line-replaceable unit, swapped at mid-life of the crane’s 25–30 years
RedundancyEvery sensor is wired to both modules. Module 1 is primary for the stack and hot standby for the truck lane; module 2 is primary for the lane and hot standby for the stack. Either one alone runs the crane at reduced speed; a lift in progress always finishes.
SafetyThe SIL 3 controller has its own sensors: encoders on hoist, trolley and all eight wheels, wheel-angle sensors, load cells in the headblock, limit switches at every end of travel, and safety-rated lidar and radar on the truck lane. A software fault can never drive the crane outside its certified safe envelope.
Sensors16 cameras on automotive Ethernet through camera aggregation switches, 6 lidars, 2 radars on the truck lane, encoders and load cells, wheel-angle sensors for crab steering
LinkPrivate 5G to the yard; block-change routes and top-up slots from The Brain each second; trajectory corrected on the crane every 25 ms, drive current loops closed every 1 ms
The RTG is the one yard crane that shares its lane with trucks. Both modules see every sensor; each runs its own zone and holds the other’s state warm. Commands pass from the machine agent through the certified safety channel to the drives, and no path goes around it. A software fault can never drive the crane outside its certified safe envelope. Block changes and charging stops are planned by The Brain, so the pack never runs flat in the middle of a block.
Today vs IC
Power, rate and speed: today’s rubber-tyred gantry cranes beside the IC design
Today · rubber-tyred gantry craneIC design
Operation1 operator in a cab per crane; automated cranes run with 1 remote supervisor per up to 5No cab and no operator. Exceptions go to the terminal’s remote desk
PowerDiesel genset, ≈ 400 kVA, burning 21–30 L/h and idling 30–40% of the time; battery versions carry 222 or 296 kWh296 kWh battery under the sill beam, 300 kW top-ups at block ends; no genset
Energy≈ 102 kWh/h on electric cranes, ≈ 4–7 kWh per move≈ 60 kWh/hr at 45 moves, ≈ 1.3 kWh per move; 75–80% of every lowering goes back to the pack
Moves per hourMakers quote 30–40+ at peak; fleets average ≈ 8 gross moves an hour with idle time45 sustained, 48 at the 75 s cycle
SpeedsHoist 23–31 m/min loaded, 56–62 empty; trolley 70–82 m/min; gantry 130–135 m/minHoist 54 m/min loaded, 108 empty; trolley 80 m/min; gantry 130 m/min
Weight68.5 t for a 6-wide, 1-over-5 crane, with a 6 t genset≈ 68.5 t with the pack in place of the genset
The IC column is the design shown on this page. Sources for the Today column are listed in BUILD_NOTES.md.
Runs on The Brain
Every movement of this machine is planned by The Brain’s orchestration layer, mirrored in the port’s digital twin, and re-planned the moment reality drifts.
See how it works →