Research Projects

The objective is to develop a women-specific tractor and power tiller that can reduce the dependency of small and marginal farmers in India. The proposed solution will address the issue of women farmers being mainly dominated by men, who migrate to urban areas for job opportunities. The proposed solution will include an ergonomically improved seating system, a sensor-based quick hitch system, and a performance evaluation of the prototype compared to existing tractor models.

Indian tractors are suitable for only 70 percent of the male population in terms of control reach and 50 percent in terms of actuation force requirement. However, there is no tractor designed for the female population, as their anthropometric and muscular strength data differs from male workers. To improve efficiency, an ergonomically optimized women-specific tractor will be designed based on anthropometric data of 5th-percentile female to 95th-percentile male farmers. The project will optimize tractor control locations, design seating systems with better vibration damping mechanisms, and develop a sensor-based quick hitch system for implement hitching.