This article was written in cooperation with Eilbote-Online and Tobias Meyer.
Previous work machines have a large number of static control elements in their operating armrests. Depending on the implement connected, a large number of control elements are redundant and create a complex and confusing overall picture. For this reason, an adaptive armrest was developed for the first time in the aISA project (adaptive interface systems in agricultural tractors), which reproduces all the operating functions of the implements in a reduced and ergonomic design and only provides the functions of the implement currently in use. The operating armrest adapts to the respective operating scenario or implement. The Eilbote has already reported on this.
In the follow-up project aISA 2.0, this idea is being taken to its logical conclusion: The fully functional prototype, which was also on display at Agritechnica 2019, serves as a basis and is to be further developed until it is ready for series production. Through a broader perspective, the attachments available on the market are to be examined and integrated into the overall system consisting of tractor, control armrest and attachment. The attachment manufacturers are offered the possibility of integrating the manufacturer-specific operating philosophy into the haptic operating system of the aISA armrest. Thanks to the Isobus, the intelligent operating armrest can then adapt to each attachment as soon as it is coupled and provides the user with an optimal and ergonomic interface in terms of position, availability, visualisation and operating mode in each case. A solution is also being developed for non-isobus implements.
The project consortium consists of five members: The research and teaching area of technical design at the Institute for Construction Technology and Technical Design (IKTD) at the University of Stuttgart is coordinating the project. The IKTD has already worked together with the Institute of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Hohenheim (ATH) and the company elobau GmbH & Co. KG from Leutkirch in the previous project (aISA). In the current aISA 2.0 project, they are also supported by the Competence Center ISOBUS e.V. association from Osnabrück and the tractor manufacturer Same Deutz-Fahr. The project executing agency is the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung, BLE) and the project is funded by the special-purpose assets of the Federal Government at the Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank and the Innovation Fund.