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As more and more functions of agricultural tractors are automated to make farming operations faster and easier, designing efficient driver controls becomes more and more crucial. The French Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering Research (CEMAGREF) and The Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) developed a method to assess drivers' reaction to a new driver controls system including both a psychological and quantitative approach. A physiological approach was also considered, but could not be instrumented in the tractor-cab's environment. A group of eight farmers were used to test the method by evaluating a new automated control system on a tractor. This experiment pointed out that a good indicator of the driver's trust and understanding of the control system was given by the ability to imagine new ways or new conditions in which it could be used.

A vibrating digger blade with one input to move the blade horizontally and one input to move the rear of the blade vertically was tested to determine a mode of vibration that would produce the most effect on the soil at acceptable torque and power inputs. A kinematic and dynamic simulation program which accounted for the frictional and inertial effects of the moving parts of the machine and a block of soil on the blade was written and used to help decide which independent parameters and their levels to use in a field test program. The optimum combination of elements yielded by the study for use in a commercial digger design was an eccentricity of 9.52 mm for horizontal movement, an eccentricity of 12.7 mm for vertical movement, and an operating velocity ratio of 1.0.1