A 'Virtual' Tour of Tomorrow's Engineering Today
During a tour of Case IH's upgraded engineering facilities near Chicago, we see pixilated tractors.
Dan Crummett
Published: Jun 22, 2010
A couple of weeks ago we discussed what we'd seen in robotic applications for the new John Deere Gator integrating GPS technology with that of video game controllers and precision farming components. This week we got to watch as one of our cohorts in ag journalism sat in a "virtual" tractor cab, complete with virtual glove-sensor and virtual-reality helmet to explore the cab of a new Case IH tractor to be unveiled later this year at the Farm Progress Show.
With Case IH's upgraded virtual reality laboratory in Burr Ridge, Ill., in the company's North American headquarters, it's possible for Case IH engineers, those from New Holland in Pennsylvania, and Fiat Power Team in two European sites to sit in simultaneously on "virtual" sessions" of tractor walk-arounds, experiences within new tractor cabs, and on trial runs of new ergonomically-designed control panels.
A friend in the ag journalism business sits in the "virtual tractor cab" in Case IH's virtual reality laboratory at company headquarters in Burr Ridge, Ill. during a tour of the facility's state-of-the-art engineering department. The technology is only one part of a system that allows Case IH engineers to actually build a prototype of a new machine totally in pixels without so much as hand-building a single part of the machine - to check for fit, function and reliability. It's the same kind of technology that allowed Boeing to build the first 777 from computer models to an actual aircraft with no mockups or last minute "hammering and fitting" to make sure all parts went together. From talking with Case IH engineers, you can take the "virtual tractor" on the screen and enlarge parts sufficiently to be able to read the model number on the oil filter!
A view of the consumer-driven-and-designed multipurpose controller in Case IH's new equipment as seen by the "driver" in the virtual reality tractor cab, lower left. Using the time saving of this advanced computer assisted design, engineers can not only make changes in designs to aid assembly and manufacture, they can put the machine and its subsets through the paces necessary to check for areas of potential reliability problems -- long before the machine gets in the hands of the consumer, saving warranty problems and public relations gaffes with recalls.
Soon, the virtual reality programs in Case IH's inventory will allow the "virtual" driver to "drive" the machine which will open up the possibility of computer simulated field exercises for "in house" operator instruction.
A computer-controlled test cell at Case IH's Burr Ridge, Ill., headquarters tests engines and drivelines. In some cases, 10 years of actual field life can be simulated by the testing facility in 1,100 hours. Couple that with Case IH's state-of-the-art cold and hot labs, engine and power train test cells, and the company's close relationship with focus groups of farmers and you can see how manufacturing is evolving from "we'll build it and you buy it" to "you tell us what you want and we'll build it to the best of our ability from your input and provide you with more production efficiency."
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Tagged: Case IH, tractor, farm, farm progress, SURE
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