Home // International Journal On Advances in Software, volume 14, numbers 1 and 2, 2021 // View article

Development of a VR Simulator for Speed Sprayer Operation Training

Authors:
Yu Tanaka
Oky Dicky Ardiansyah Prima
Katsuyoshi Hotta
Kanayo Ogura
Koichi Matsuda
Shoichi Yuki

Keywords: speed sprayer; virtual reality; training simulator; deep feedforward neural network.

Abstract:
Speed (boom) sprayers, the agricultural chemical spraying vehicles, are generally used in orchards of grapes and apples to efficiently control pests. Speed sprayers require skill to operate, and improper operation can result in pesticides drifting off the field. It also requires significant time to train the operator, as adjustments to travel speed, pressure, and nozzle selection need to be considered. Meanwhile, to make the operation of the speed sprayer easier and safer, improvements to the control panel in the cockpit have become necessary. In this study, we developed a simulator of a speed sprayer based on Virtual Reality (VR) and conducted analysis of the driving and operation of the speed sprayer. Experiments using the developed simulator with ten subjects showed that the trend of the subjects’ steering wheel rotation angles was the same as that of an actual speed sprayer driver. Furthermore, the head posture when operating the spray button were also the same as that of the driver operating the actual speed sprayers. While there is room for improvement in terms of the real motion cueing and field of view provided to the user, this simulator allowed us to practice the basic operations necessary for pesticide spraying.

Pages: 151 to 161

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2021. Used with permission.

Publication date: December 31, 2021

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628