Presentation Type
Invited
Track
Precision Ag/Biological Sciences Application
Abstract
Manually operating an agricultural sprayer is a stressful activity. Operators work an average of 15 hrs/day in peak season [1], navigating 38-cm (15-in) tires in 76-cm (30-in) rows. Guidance systems can relieve operator fatigue [2]. A commercially-available vision guidance system (VSN®, Raven Industries) is available for agricultural vehicles.
Human subject protocols were approved by the IRB. Three experienced male operators drove manually and with VSN in the same field. Each wore an Empatica E4 wristband to measure their electrodermal activity (EDA). Sprayer steering status was recorded from the sprayer guidance system (RS1TM, Raven Industries). EDA data was filtered with a Hampel filter to remove artifacts [3] (1 s window before and after) and then with an infinite impulse response (MATLAB filtfilt function) [4] with a window of 1 s. Filtered EDA peaks and valleys were calculated (MATLAB findpeaks function) [5] and stressful events were defined as those which exceeded a magnitude threshold of 0.01 μS [6]. The frequency of stressful events, stressful event characteristics (e.g., magnitude, duration and area under the curve) and frequency of steering adjustments were calculated while driving in straight rows (length > 150 m). An ANOVA was performed on each calculated metric with steering type and participant as predictor variables and p < 0.05 considered significant. Thirty-four passes in four fields were analyzed (16 manual, 18 VSN). Operators steering with VSN had 49% fewer stressful events per time compared to manual driving (3.6 versus 7.1 events/min, p < 0.001, Figure 1). These results suggest that steering with VSN considerably reduces the stress on agricultural operators compared to steering manually.
Start Date
2-8-2022 9:50 AM
End Date
2-8-2022 10:50 AM
Session 2: A Vision Guidance System on Agricultural Sprayers Reduces Operator Stress
Pheasant Room 253 A/B
Manually operating an agricultural sprayer is a stressful activity. Operators work an average of 15 hrs/day in peak season [1], navigating 38-cm (15-in) tires in 76-cm (30-in) rows. Guidance systems can relieve operator fatigue [2]. A commercially-available vision guidance system (VSN®, Raven Industries) is available for agricultural vehicles.
Human subject protocols were approved by the IRB. Three experienced male operators drove manually and with VSN in the same field. Each wore an Empatica E4 wristband to measure their electrodermal activity (EDA). Sprayer steering status was recorded from the sprayer guidance system (RS1TM, Raven Industries). EDA data was filtered with a Hampel filter to remove artifacts [3] (1 s window before and after) and then with an infinite impulse response (MATLAB filtfilt function) [4] with a window of 1 s. Filtered EDA peaks and valleys were calculated (MATLAB findpeaks function) [5] and stressful events were defined as those which exceeded a magnitude threshold of 0.01 μS [6]. The frequency of stressful events, stressful event characteristics (e.g., magnitude, duration and area under the curve) and frequency of steering adjustments were calculated while driving in straight rows (length > 150 m). An ANOVA was performed on each calculated metric with steering type and participant as predictor variables and p < 0.05 considered significant. Thirty-four passes in four fields were analyzed (16 manual, 18 VSN). Operators steering with VSN had 49% fewer stressful events per time compared to manual driving (3.6 versus 7.1 events/min, p < 0.001, Figure 1). These results suggest that steering with VSN considerably reduces the stress on agricultural operators compared to steering manually.