From Field to Table: How Touch Screens Are Changing the Modern Harvest
Fall harvest may still mean combines moving through fields, grain carts running alongside them and long days trying to beat the weather. But step inside the cab of modern agricultural equipment and the view is considerably more high-tech than many people expect. Today's tractor and combine operators can use touch screens to monitor equipment, follow GPS guidance, view field maps, adjust machine settings, manage implements, monitor cameras and track harvest information. What was once a cab filled with mechanical gauges, switches and separate controls is increasingly becoming a connected digital workspace. The modern farm may still begin with soil, seed and weather, but a surprising amount of the work between field and table now passes through a vehicle touch screen.
The Tractor Cab Is Becoming a Command Center
Agricultural equipment has become extraordinarily sophisticated. Precision agriculture allows farmers to use technology to understand what is happening not only across an entire field, but in different areas within that field. Guidance systems can help equipment follow precise paths. Application systems can control where seed, fertilizer or crop protection products are applied. During harvest, operators can monitor machine performance and collect field and yield information while the combine is still moving. Touch screens provide a practical way to bring many of those functions together. Instead of dedicating a separate physical control to every feature, an in-cab display can give operators access to multiple systems through one configurable interface.
Depending on the equipment and system, the same screen may display
Guidance
Field maps
Equipment settings
Camera views
Application information or harvest data
The touch screen is no longer simply another component mounted inside the cab. Increasingly, it is the operator's window into the machine and the work happening around it.
Harvest Generates More Than Grain
A modern combine does more than harvest a crop. It can also generate valuable information.
Precision-agriculture systems can collect yield, moisture and location data as equipment moves through the field. That information can help producers understand variations across acreage and make better-informed decisions about future planting, inputs and field management. But collecting data is only part of the equation. The operator also needs a practical way to see and interact with information while operating a large piece of equipment. That is where interface design matters.
A well-designed touch display can make complex information easier to understand at a glance. Operators can see the information relevant to the task without navigating an overwhelming collection of physical controls or disconnected devices. When harvest days are long and timing matters, the interface should simplify the work rather than add another layer of complexity.
Farm Equipment Is a Tough Place for a Touch Screen
A tractor cab may be enclosed, but agricultural equipment is hardly a gentle environment for electronics. Equipment can operate for long hours in bright sunlight, dust, vibration and widely changing temperatures. Operators may be wearing work gloves. Dirt and moisture are simply part of the job. A machine may begin work on a chilly fall morning and continue through a sunny afternoon with dramatically different light and temperature conditions. That creates a very different set of requirements than a consumer touch screen used indoors.
For agricultural machinery, a touch interface may need reliable glove operation, excellent visibility, resistance to moisture and contaminants, a wide operating temperature range and cover glass capable of handling the demands of mobile equipment. The screen also has to remain usable when the operator is focused on running the machine rather than carefully interacting with a delicate electronic device.
Sunlight Readability Matters When Your Office Has Windows Everywhere
Few offices have a view quite like a tractor cab. Large windows give operators visibility around the machine, but they also mean changing sunlight can make a display difficult to see. A screen that looks excellent under controlled indoor lighting may become washed out when direct sunlight enters the cab. High-brightness displays, anti-glare treatments and optical bonding can help improve readability in bright environments. Optical bonding reduces internal reflections between display layers, helping improve contrast and visibility while also creating a more durable display assembly. For agricultural equipment, readability is not simply about making a screen look better. Operators need to quickly see machine information while continuing to pay attention to what is happening outside the cab.
Gloves Shouldn't Stop the Harvest
Fall harvest does not wait for perfect weather. Cool mornings and changing conditions can mean operators wear work gloves while using equipment. Conventional capacitive touch screens may struggle to recognize input through thicker glove material, potentially forcing operators to remove a glove simply to interact with the display. That is not an ideal workflow inside a machine designed to make farming more efficient.
UICO PCAP touch technology can support glove operation up to 5 mm thick, allowing OEMs to design interfaces around the way operators actually work. Touch-controller tuning can also be optimized for the requirements of a particular application rather than assuming every user will interact with the screen using a bare finger. The equipment is supposed to work for the farmer, not the other way around.
One Display, More of the Operation
Another interesting development in agricultural equipment is the amount of information moving onto the display. Current precision-ag systems demonstrate just how far this has progressed. In-cab touch displays can combine guidance, machine and field information, implement controls, camera inputs and other functions. Some systems can also connect equipment information beyond the cab, allowing farm managers or service teams to access data remotely. For OEMs, that creates an opportunity and a challenge. As more functionality moves onto the screen, the touch interface becomes increasingly important to the overall equipment experience. Screen size, responsiveness, visibility, placement and durability are no longer minor design details. They affect how comfortably and efficiently an operator interacts with the machine. A sophisticated piece of agricultural equipment deserves an interface engineered for the same environment.
Agricultural Touch Screens Go Beyond Tractors
Precision agriculture may make the tractor cab an obvious example, but touch technology has applications throughout modern farming. Touch interfaces can be incorporated into combines, sprayers, harvesters, seeders, planters and other mobile agricultural equipment. They can also be used in irrigation controls, grain handling systems, processing equipment and other machinery supporting agricultural operations. That gives OEMs considerable flexibility in how information and controls are presented across different types of equipment.
UICO works with vehicle and equipment manufacturers to develop rugged PCAP touch screen solutions for agricultural machinery and other specialty vehicles, including standard and custom designs for demanding mobile environments. UICO vehicle solutions include options for glove operation, water and moisture immunity, high-brightness displays, optical bonding, anti-glare coatings and wide operating temperature ranges.
From Field to Table, Technology Is Along for the Ride
Farming will always depend on things technology cannot control completely: weather, soil, timing and the experience of the people doing the work. But the tools available to those people continue to change. The same harvest that once depended largely on mechanical controls can now involve GPS guidance, field mapping, cameras, automation, connected equipment and enormous amounts of useful data. Somewhere in the middle of all that technology is the interface that allows a person to make sense of it. Increasingly, that interface is a touch screen. So when the combines roll through the fields this fall, there is considerably more happening inside the cab than most of us see from the road. The journey from field to table has gone digital.
Frequently Asked Questions About Agricultural Touch Screens
Where are touch screens used in agricultural equipment?
Touch screens can be used in tractors, combines, sprayers, planters, seeders, harvesters and other agricultural machinery. Depending on the equipment, displays may provide access to machine controls, guidance, field maps, implement settings, cameras and precision-agriculture information.
Can agricultural touch screens work with gloves?
Yes. PCAP touch technology can be engineered for gloved operation. UICO touch solutions can support gloves up to 5 mm thick, helping operators interact with equipment without repeatedly removing work gloves.
What should OEMs consider when selecting a touch screen for farm equipment?
Important considerations include sunlight readability, glove operation, moisture and contaminant resistance, operating temperature, vibration, cover-glass durability, screen size and how the display will be integrated into the equipment. Touch-controller tuning and the actual operating environment should also be considered early in the design process.
Designing the Next Generation of Agricultural Equipment?
UICO develops rugged PCAP touch screen solutions for agricultural machinery and other specialty vehicles. From standard touch screens to custom cover glass, high-brightness displays, optical bonding and touch-controller optimization, our U.S.-based engineering team works with OEMs to develop interfaces around the environments where their equipment actually operates.
Talk to a UICO engineer about your agricultural touch screen application.
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