Real-Time Adaptive Tractor Ride Comfort Adjustment System Based on Machine Learning Method

Tractors are among the most widely used machinery in agriculture. However, low-frequency vibrations during tractor operations pose significant health risks to drivers, such as musculoskeletal disorders, and negatively impact ride comfort. Current approaches rely on offline comfort prediction models, which lack real-time feedback, making them unsuitable for practical field applications. To address this gap, we propose a real-time recommendation system based on Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning (ML) to enhance the driving comfort of agricultural tractors. Our low-cost IoT-enabled solution is compatible with existing tractors, requiring no expensive intelligent upgrades. Using the XGBoost model for ride comfort prediction, we achieved superior performance (R<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{2} =0.96$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, RMSE =0.015) compared to other ML models. Additionally, the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to recommend optimal operational parameters, reducing the ride comfort value (OVV) by 6.67% in real-time experiments. This study highlights a scalable, data-driven approach for improving tractor comfort and offers a reference for intelligent control strategies in Agriculture 4.0.