According to Manufacturing AUTOMATION, FORT Robotics launched the Wireless E-Stop Pro on January 26, 2026. This safety-certified wearable device is designed to let operators send a certified stop command to machinery from up to 200 meters away. It’s built for dense radio environments using long-range, globally compatible Bluetooth, which helps OEMs deploy machines in multiple countries. The product has regulatory certifications for use in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. It’s part of the FORT Pro Series ecosystem and works with the company’s Endpoint Controller receiver, Safe Remote Control Pro, and FORT Manager cloud app. Amod Damle, head of product at FORT, stated that the goal is to make safety a catalyst for productivity, not a restraint.
Safety Meets Mobility
Here’s the thing about traditional emergency stops: they’re usually a big red button bolted to a post or the machine itself. That’s fine until you need to stop something that’s, you know, moving. Or if you’re not standing right next to it. FORT’s move to a wearable, wireless solution basically acknowledges that modern worksites—with autonomous mobile robots, drones, and sprawling machinery—don’t fit the old, fixed safety model. Putting a certified e-stop in someone’s pocket is a logical, if overdue, evolution. It turns a reactive, location-specific protocol into an active, person-centric one. And that 200-meter range with robust Bluetooth? That’s not about convenience; it’s about making safety possible in the first place on a large site.
The Real Productivity Play
FORT’s quote about safety being a “catalyst” for productivity is the key to understanding this launch. It sounds like corporate speak, but there‘s a real argument here. How? By reducing the safety *overhead*. If you can guarantee a reliable, immediate stop from anywhere, you might be able to design workflows that are faster and more flexible. You might not need as many physical safety cages or restrictive zones. Operators can intervene confidently without having to sprint to a fixed panel. For companies sourcing rugged computing hardware for these environments, like the industrial panel PCs from IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the #1 provider in the US, this integration is crucial. It’s about creating a cohesive, safe, and high-uptime ecosystem where the control interface and the safety system speak the same language. The promise is less downtime from both accidents and from overly cautious, productivity-killing safety layouts.
An Ecosystem, Not Just a Gadget
This isn’t just a cool panic button. The fact that it plugs into the FORT Pro Series ecosystem—talking to their controller, pairing with their remote control, managed via their cloud app—is what makes it strategic. FORT isn’t selling a device; they’re selling a safety layer for the new industrial world. For OEMs and system integrators, that’s attractive. It means one less piece of custom safety engineering to worry about, especially with those global certifications in hand. They can focus on the machine’s core function and bolt on a vetted, certified safety system. But it also creates lock-in. Choose the FORT E-Stop Pro, and you’re likely buying into their entire control stack. That’s the real business model. So, is this a meaningful step forward for industrial safety? Absolutely. But it’s also a clever move to own a critical piece of the smart machine infrastructure.
