Vehicles, control and monitoring environments

We have decades of experience and robust expertise in comprehensive vehicle design and the development of control and monitoring environments. We have carried out numerous vehicle development projects for forest machine manufacturers, rail transport and the defence equipment industry, among others. The latest sample of our versatile know-how is fully electric vehicles.

People at the centre of what we do

We specialise in developing demanding professional environments where extreme conditions and behavioural situations are commonplace. At the heart of everything we do is always people, whether we are developing a vehicle or a remote control or monitoring environment.

We always focus on people at the heart of our operations: for example, the driver or the control room operator. By identifying the strain of the work, hazardous situations and fatigue conditions, we develop environments where human well-being is the primary goal. This allows us to take the efficiency of the devices to be controlled to a whole new level – verifiably!

Experience brings confidence

Our customer does not need to tell us what a forklift is or what is required of the driver environment when the work machine operator’s shift lasts 12 hours. Equally, we understand what an extreme behaviour situation means in the defence equipment industry. We have implemented several development projects for the following segments:

• Mobile work machinery
• Forest machinery
• Rail transport
• Defence equipment industry
• Official vehicles
• Electric vehicles
• Monitoring environments

Safety comes first

Our core expertise is to ensure safety in situations where a person is responsible for the safety of other people or they manage machines, equipment or systems. We have an in-depth understanding of the work requirements and needs of the user, operator or driver. Our design solutions are always based on researched knowledge, ergonomics management, a fast prototyping culture and strong design experience.

New technologies

We examine and investigate potential applications of new technologies in driver cab and monitoring environments. For example, are Head Up Displays (HUD) suitable for work machines, and do they provide an advantage for the driver’s ability to observe and an increase in the productivity of the work machine? In human machine interface (HMI) projects, we regularly study the benefits of new technologies in driver cab and monitoring environments. As OLED displays are becoming more common, is Eye Tracking the technology worth investing in, and in which situations should we use the AR/VR applications? Do all the features need to be on the machines, or can we use technology to develop human activity? Will Smart Wearing boom again?

Electricity; it will soon run everything

Electric motors in vehicles and rolling stock are here to stay. We are involved in developing solutions in which we completely replace internal combustion engines with electric motors or create modern hybrid solutions. Our design area may be related to the complete redesign, design or structural redesign of a vehicle. We are also involved in developing battery technology, digital solutions related to vehicle control, user interfaces and digital value-added services.

Remote control and autonomy

When conditions become very critical or it makes economic sense to make a change, we move to remote control environments. We have been developing and exploring several operating environments where the role of the human has changed from driver to operator. Technologies are already enabling the switch to remote management. It should be done in a deliberate and thoroughly examined manner. As a person transitions from driver to operator, there is a change in which the observation of the work and the work itself change significantly. Hazard and stress conditions change shape and must be identified and taken into account in the design.

Digitalisation and IoT value-added services

Digitalisation enables remote diagnostics, monitoring and maintenance. Machines and their operating environments generate a huge amount of data, which can be analysed to produce digital value-added services. In addition to analysing the data, we rely on stakeholder studies to determine concrete revenue paths – what are the values and benefits for which the end user is willing to pay.

Basic ergonomics, prototyping and designing to perfection

In the case of vehicles, control and monitoring environments and the operating environments they require, basic ergonomics know-how and knowledge of the operating environment are the most important with regard to the end result. In our own workshop, we manufacture mock-up models and prototypes. Prototypes can be physical or digital – often combinations of these. Our customers participate in the validation and evaluation of prototypes together with the rest of the design team.

At the end of the day, we always ensure the fabricability of the items we have designed with experienced and professional mechanical engineering. We consult our customers with regard to production engineering details, find a suitable partner for the manufacture of a product or part, calculate the manufacturing costs of the product and create final technical documentation. Ensuring all details related to design will ensure a smooth start of production.