[Courtesy of KIMM]
SEOUL -- Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), a government-funded research institute in South Korea, used virtual reality technology to develop a technology that can realize an unmanned working environment. The technology can be used for agricultural tractors and industrial work machines.
With KIMM's technology, LS Mtron, an electronic component and industrial machinery maker, would push for the development of self-driving tractors and a smart farm service. The technology enables remote control using long-range camera images and the simultaneous control of several work machines in smart farms and construction sites.
"It is possible to pre-test with much more diverse and complex scenarios than field tests, and to accumulate data," Cha Moo-hyun, a senior KIMM researcher, said, adding that time and money on developing and testing unmanned machines can be saved.
The institute said that if a user specifies a work path based on the location information of a satellite map, it is possible to simulate unmanned work processes in a 3D-based virtual work environment. It can replace actual field tests by virtually checking the key performance of unmanned technologies such as environmental recognition and path control.
With rapid advances in sensor and computer technologies, there have been growing demands for autonomous equipment. LS Mtron provided an electronic steering and brake system for an unmanned tractor showcased by LG Uplus (LGU+) in October 2019. LGU+ worked with PTC, a computer software and services company headquartered in Boston, to develop a remote diagnostic service that allows users to check the status of tractors.