George Hammond
TeleDrive
My product is TeleDrive a new industrial remote control designed to improve operator safety and efficiency. The remote is designed to control agricultural and construction vehicles, specifically telehandler’s which are 4-wheeled hydrostatic machines with a telescopic boom. The remote can control all brands of telehandler’s and allows the user to operate the vehicle from a safe distance. Remote operation gives a greater view of the vehicle and its surroundings and therefore allows the user to operate the vehicle in a safer manor.
The remote has a strong rugged industrial design and has been developed with user ergonomics in mind. It features a rugged anodised aluminium cage with two textured grab handles. At the front there is a clip for a safety strap or harness allowing the user to easily walk around with the remote and use it for long periods of time as telehandler operators can be working for up to eight hours a day. The remote has all the key safety features you would find in the cab, such as load level warnings and an emergency cut off switch. The controls are intuitive to use and feel comfortable in the hand as all the contact points are textured plastic.
TeleDrive can control all the essential parts of the machine. The controls are laid out in an intuitive format. The right joystick controls the boom movements and the left joystick controls the vehicle movements with push buttons on the top to cycle through the gears. The row of two way switches on the front power on the remote and allow you to sync the remote to the machine before remote operation, the other two buttons on the front control the lights and park brake. The emergency cut off switch is located centrally and is easy to push in an instant this was one key feature I tested in my user study. The three way rotary dials control the 4 wheel steer to manoeuvre out of tight corners. The other three way switch controls the hydraulics. The push buttons at the rear control the lcd TFT display and allow the user to control the rpm of the machine.
The overall aim of TeleDrive is to improve operator safety by giving the driver greater control and vision than they would have in the cab. When the remote is not in use it can be stored on its aluminium stand in the cab. The remotes industrial look make it seamlessly fit in to the cab environment. The remote is comfortable to hold in the hand and the LCD display is at a comfortable viewing angle.
George Hammond's designs
Student Biography
I have a passion for deign engineering specifically for the agricultural and construction sectors. I enjoy working on CAD and model making, as I believe the best way to fully understand a concept idea is to make it into a 3D form to analyse it. I enjoy welding and working in the workshop. In the future I would like to design construction and agricultural machines.