You?ve seen fertilizer and pesticide application equipment on rural roads and spraying fields every spring. They are tall and wide and look difficult to control.
I attended the introduction of a simulator – designed to train prospective applicator operators and increase the competency of experienced drivers.
Three large TV screens displayed around a central platform with controls simulate the AGCO Rogator applicator. With the booms stowed for road travel, the applicator mimics a large tractor. With the booms out, the applicator mimics a large airplane.
Ross Dowell, with Growmark, sat me in the simulator?s seat and explained how to drive the Rogator.
The simulator required a seatbelt due to platform movement as the screen shows road travel. If you hit something, it lurches.
?We have the motion seat to give as real a feeling as real as possible,? Dowell said.
Jason Harrison, with Sunrise FS in Illinois, helped develop the simulation. Harrison said a lot is expected of applicators who go daylight to dark during peak season.
?You know, it?s a big machine,? Harrison said. ?There?s nowhere else out there you can get trained to drive stuff like this. The safety aspect of this thing is going to be huge.?
A real applicator costs as much as $400,000 and any mistake could be costly and dangerous. The simulation helps in qualifying prospective employees and training veterans.
