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To stay competitive internationally, the Swedish forestry sector must increase its productivity by 2 to 3% annually. There are a variety of ways in which productivity can be increased. One option is to develop remote-controlled or unmanned machines, thus reducing the need for operator intervention. Another option—and one that could be achieved sooner than full automation—would be to make some functions semi-automatic. Semi-automatic operation of the knuckle boom and felling head in particular would create “mini-breaks” for the operators, thereby reducing mental and physiological stress. It would also reduce training time and increase the productivity of a large proportion of operators. The objective of this thesis work has been to develop and evaluate algorithms for simplified boom control on forest machines. Algorithms for so called boom tip control, as well as automatic boom functions have been introduced. The algorithms solve the inverse kinematics of kinematically redundant knuckle booms while maximizing lifting capacity. The boom tip control was evaluated – first by means of a kinematic simulation and then in a dynamic forest machine simulator. The results show that boom tip control is an easier system to learn in comparison to conventional control, leading to savings in production due to shorter learning times and operators being able to reach full production sooner. Boom tip control also creates less mental strain than conventional control, which in the long run will reduce mental stress on operators of forest machines. The maximum lifting capacity algorithm was then developed further to enable TCP path-tracking, which was also implemented and evaluated in the simulator. An evaluation of the fidelity of the dynamic forest machine simulator was performed to ensure validity of the results achieved with the simplified boom control. The results from the study show that there is good fidelity between the forest machine simulator and a real forest machine, and that the results from simulations are reliable. It is also concluded that the simulator was a useful research tool for the studies performed in the context of this thesis work. The thesis had two overall objectives. The first was to provide the industry and forestry sector with usable and verified ideas and results in the area of automation. This has been accomplished with the implementation of a simplified boom control and semi-automation on a forwarder in a recently started joint venture between a hydraulic manufacturer, a forest machine manufacturer and a forest enterprise. The second objective was to strengthen the research and development links between the forestry sector and technical university research. This has been accomplished through the thesis work itself and by a number of courses, projects and Masters theses over the last three years. About 150 students in total have been studying forest machine technology in one way or the other. / QC 20100729

Försvarets materielverk (FMV), som förser Svenska försvaret med materiel, har en del av sin organisation belägen i Karlsborg nämligen test och evaluering av markstridssystem. Fotogruppen på test och evaluering önskar realtidsstyra en robotiserad kameraplattform av märket Vinten med hjälp av diverse olika positionsgivande system i form av joystick, Doppler-positionsradar, deras självutvecklade system UNIPOS samt en predikterad bana för avlossade projektiler. Projektets huvudsakliga mål blev därför att skapa ett styrsystem för att kontrollera kameraplattformen med hjälp av nämnda indatakällor. Den teoretiska referensramen samt litteraturstudien gav projektets deltagare den kunskapsbas, inom seriell kommunikation och dataprotokoll, som krävdes för att genomföra projektet. De gav även förståelse för hur tidigare liknande arbeten sett ut och valde utifrån detta att följa systemutvecklingsmodellen Rational Unified process (RUP). FMV uttryckte önskemål om att den huvudsakliga styrenheten skulle vara en PC för att möjliggöra fjärrstyrning samt enkel vidareutveckling av systemet. RUP användes för att strukturera upp arbetet samt säkerställa kvalitén på slutprodukten. Utvecklingsprocessen består, enligt RUP’s struktur, av ett antal iterationer som alla tillför någon funktion till systemet. I samråd och nära samarbete med personal på FMV utvecklades systemet och testades succesivt för att säkerställa kvalitén. En enkel manual togs även fram för att förenkla användandet av systemet. Samtliga önskade indatakällor behandlades på något sätt i projektet och resultatet blev ett portabelt system som kan köras på vilken PC som helst. Tester med drönare, granatkastare samt ett stegsvar har utförts för att verifiera att systemets funktion uppfyller de krav som satts upp samt utvärdera systemets möjligheter och begränsningar. Testen visade att realtidsstyrning är möjlig till viss grad med samtliga system och att systemets begränsningar ligger i fördröjningarna som finns både i signalöverföring samt kameraplattformens inbyggda filter för mjuka rörelser. / The Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) that supplies materials to the Swedish military, has a part of its organization located in Karlsborg called test and evaluation of land combat systems. The photogroup of test and evaluation wishes to control a robotized camera platform, of the brand Vinten, in real time using a number of different positioning systems like joystick, Doppler-position radar, their self-constructed system UNIPOS and using a predicted trajectory of a launched projectile. The main goal of the project is therefore to create a control system to maneuver the camera platform with the assistance of mentioned data sources. The theoretical framework and literature review gave the members of the project the knowledge base, in serial communication and data protocols, needed to complete the project and gave understanding about earlier similar projects and choose to follow the structure of the systems development model Rational Unified Process (RUP). FMV wanted the main control unit to be a PC to be able to remotely control the system and to be able to make further developments. RUP was used to give the work structure and to make sure the quality of the end product was satisfactory. The development process consists, in accordance with the RUP structure, of a number of iterations that all add some function to the system. In close cooperation with the staff at FMV the system is developed and continuously tested to ensure the quality. A simple manual has been developed to make usage of the system easier. Every data source wanted by FMV has been handled in some way throughout the project and the result was a portable system that can be ran on any PC. Tests using drones, grenade launchers and a response-test was performed to verify that the functions of the system lives up to the goals that were set up and to evaluate the systems possibilities and limitations. The tests showed that real time control is possible to some extent with all systems and that the limitations lies in the delays that exists both in signal transfers and in the camera platforms built in filters for soft movements.

This diploma thesis should bring not only working machine into the branch of agricultural industry, but also new approach to design. Obviously, the contribution of technical innovations, which are required in this segment, is concerned, too. All knowledge and concepts come from the practise of this field. The project partly takes up the pre-diploma thesis called Vision of the agricultural cutting machine with container arrangement and shares some details of the concept as such. The technical part was solved during the winter term within the scope of the subject Machines and equipment. From this project will be adopted all bases of constructional innovations of agricultural machine concept.

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration provides tests and evaluations of military Aircrafts and their systems as well as provide services in connection with military exercises. Testing aircraft against a radar antenna and training crews with this radar is part of that offering. The radar is deployed in a container rig and controlled by a computer running Windows 2000. The current option to control this computer is a mouse and keyboard. In this thesis, a system will be designed that is able to improve the ease of use of this rig while minimizing any need to modify the radar rig’s already established hardware and software. The resulting system designed used a commercially available joystick and off the shelf single board micro-controllers in combination with a graphical user interface to supply the radar rig with a converted input from the joystick in the form of mouse and keyboard commands, simplifying the end-user experience. / Försvarets materielverk tillhandahåller test och evaluering av militära flygsystem. De tillhandahåller även tjänster rörande militära övningar såsom belysning av flygplan med en radar för att öva piloter. Denna radar är monterad i en container och kontrolleras av en styrdator som kör operativsystemet Windows 2000. Denna dator styrs med hjälp av en mus och tangentbord. I denna rapport kommer ett system designas som kan förbättra användarupplevelsen av denna dator samtidigt som förändringar av hårdvara eller mjukvara i styrdatorn undviks. Resultatet av rapporten var ett system bestående av en kommersiellt tillgänglig joystick och två microkontrollers i kombination med ett grafiskt användargränssnitt som omvandlar knapptryck och styrutslag från joysticken till mus och tangentbords kommandon i styrdatorn.

<p>When users begin to experience virtual reality (VR) for the first time, they can be met with some degree of motion sickness and nausea, especially if continuous joystick locomotion is used. The symptoms that are induced during these VR experiences fall under the umbrella term cybersickness, and due to these uncomfortable experiences, these users can get a bad first impression and abandon the innovative technology, not able to fully appreciate the convenience and fascinating adventures VR has to offer. As such, this project compares the effects of two cybersickness mitigation methods (Dynamic Field of View (FOV) and Virtual Reference Frame), both against each other and combined, on user-reported cybersickness symptoms to determine the best combination to implement in commercial applications to help create more user-friendly VR experiences. The hypothesis is that combining the FOV reduction and the resting frame methods can mitigate VR cybersickness more effectively without hindering the user’s experience and the virtual nose method is more potent at mitigating cybersickness compared to dynamic FOV. To test these hypotheses, an experimental game was developed for the Meta Quest 2 with five levels: a tutorial level and four maze levels (one for each scenario). The participants were asked to complete the tutorial level until they got used to the virtual reality controls, and then they were instructed to complete the maze level twice with one of the following conditions for each run: no method, dynamic field of view only, virtual nose only, and dynamic field of view and virtual nose combined. After completing each maze trial, the participants were asked to complete a simulator sickness questionnaire to get their thoughts on how much sickness they felt during the test. Upon concluding the testing phase with 36 participants and compiling the data, the results showed that while the subjects preferred the dynamic FOV method even though they were able to complete the trials significantly faster with the virtual nose method, it is inconclusive regarding which method is truly more effective. Furthermore, the results showed that it is also inconclusive if the scenario with both methods enabled is significantly better or worse than either method used separately.</p>

The Excavator industry is developmentally behind many other similar industries. This is, like many parts of these long living machines, true for the controls used to maneuver them. It has few competent control systems that are ergonomic, comfortable, adaptable, durable and intuitive. Existing solutions that fill some of these criteria exist, but the approximate majority of machines in the world lack a good solution and most are equipped with inadequate solutions.  The doctrine of Human centered design was applied throughout the pilot study to increase the quality of research and ease finding correlations between instances of information. International standards, Human-machine systems and Anthropometrics were consulted to achieve a result adapted for a larger variety of operators.  This thesis consists of the pilot study and prototype development of one such Human-machine-system, more specifically the joystick, or grip as it’s called within the industry. The solution developed is specifically equipped with controls adapted for tiltrotator control. As the grip is developed on behalf of the company engcon, who develops tiltrotators and also the control system including a grip, to offer a complete plug and play solution.  The first main objective was performing a pilot study of what is required in the future for excavator grips. Primarily through interviews with excavator operators, but also a benchmarking and a workshop it was determined what must be achieved in terms of technical and ergonomic solutions.  The second main objective during the thesis was to create a prototype that achieve a high level in terms of grip form. A form which is comfortable to hold, ergonomic to operate for multiple hours and that is adapted to a larger variety of hand sizes than the competitors. It also required a higher level of stability than the current solution. This shape needed to take internal electronics, ISO-standards and future controls into account. The solution must eventually achieve a high level of manufacturability, of which the groundwork was laid during the thesis, but took lower priority. Further testing is required but results so far seem to point towards this being achieved.  This will hopefully post-thesis result in a solution that leads to healthier operators, further enabling female operators entering the field, performing work with higher accuracy and a longer lasting more sustainable product that is intuitive and easy to learn. / Grävmaskinsindustrin ligger utvecklingsmässigt bakom många andra liknande industrier. Detta är, som många delar av dessa långlivade maskiner, sant för kontrollerna som används för att manövrera dem. Den har få kompetenta kontrollsystem som är ergonomiska, bekväma, anpassningsbara, slitstarka och intuitiva. Befintliga lösningar som fyller några av dessa kriterier finns, men approximativt saknar majoriteten av maskiner i världen en bra lösning och de flesta är utrustade med otillräckliga lösningar.  Läran om Människocentrerad design tillämpades genom hela förstudien för att öka kvaliteten på forskningen samt förenkla sökandet av samband mellan instanser av information. Internationella standarder, Människa-maskin-system och antropometri konsulterades för att uppnå ett resultat anpassat för ett större antal operatörer.  Detta examensarbete består av en förstudie och prototyputveckling av ett sådant Människa-maskin-system, närmare bestämt joysticken, eller på engelska grip som är ett vanligare namn inom branschen. Den framtagna lösningen är speciellt utrustad med reglage anpassade för tiltrotatorstyrning eftersom greppet är utvecklat på uppdrag av företaget engcon. Företaget utvecklar huvudsakligen tiltrotatorer men även ett styrsystem inklusive en joystick, för att erbjuda en komplett plug and play-lösning.  Det första huvudmålet var att göra en förstudie av vad som krävs i framtiden av grävmaskinsjoysticks. Främst genom intervjuer med grävmaskinister, men också genom en benchmarking och en workshop, fastställdes vad som måste uppnås vad gäller tekniska och ergonomiska områden.  Det andra huvudmålet under examensarbetet var att skapa en prototyp som uppnår en hög nivå vad gäller greppform. En form som är bekväm att hålla i, ergonomisk att använda i flera timmar och som är anpassad till en större variation av handstorlekar än konkurrenterna. Det krävde också en högre stabilitet än den nuvarande lösningen. Denna form behövde ta hänsyn till intern elektronik, ISO-standarder och framtida reglage. Lösningen måste så småningom uppnå en hög grad av tillverkningsbarhet, vilket grunden lades under examensarbetet, men prioriterades lägre. Ytterligare tester krävs, men resultaten hittills tycks peka mot att detta uppnås.  Detta kommer förhoppningsvis, efter examensarbetet, att resultera i en lösning som leder till hälsosammare operatörer, som ytterligare möjliggör kvinnliga operatörer, ett arbete som kan utföras med högre precision samt en slitstarkare och hållbarare produkt som är intuitiv och lätt att lära sig.