Fendt: Optical tracking in the agricultural machinery industry

Fendt, Germany

OPtical tracking in the agricultural machinery industry

At Fendt Research and Development in Marktoberdorf, an internal virtual reality center was installed with participation of Viscon, Christie and ART. Today, the Fendt brand is owned by the AGCO Corporation, one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machinery in the world. It is there that tractors are built, technical improvements drafted and agricultural machinery developed for the future.
The development process is supported by a virtual reality centre which has been in operation since February 2012 and was installed by the VISCON company.

Hermann Fendt, Series Product Area Manager at AGCO GmbH, explains: “Our new VR system is there to support communication between individual departments and divisions by means of visual presentation. In this way, we can prevent technical loops or possible faults at an early stage in the development process.”


The tracking solution

On a 5m x 2.6m large passive stereo powerwall, CAD models of various agricultural machines are visualized. Two Christie 3-chip DLP® projectors, an ART TRACKPACK4 tracking camera system and a large Stewart rear projection screen are the main components of the huge installation. While one set of glasses is fitted with a tracking system and can provide whoever is operating it with an optimal viewing angle to the object, there are twenty Infitec glasses at the disposal of the other observers, so that everyone in the room can follow the high-resolution image signal in 3D.


Why ART ?

  • Effective and constructive work
    • The operation of the entire system was supposed to be as simple as possible in order to facilitate effective and constructive work.
  • Low service and maintenance costs
    • ART tracking allows maximum image size with maximum resolution and highest light output, as well as low service and maintenance costs and maximum reliability.
       

Setup

  • 5m x 2.6m large passive stereo powerwall
  • 2 x Christie 3-chip DLP® D4K35 projectors
  • TRACKPACK4 system, Flystick2, Headtracking via Infitec glasses