Development of a novel mechatronic system for mechanical weed ...

Results and discussion
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5.2.5 Discussion of the results conducted by virtual
prototyping
Virtual prototyping of course has some disadvantages as well. As with any
computer simulation, there are real-world elements that cannot be exactly
reproduced in a virtual form. While a simulation may show a mechanism to
function perfectly, in reality a rather small change in the soil roughness may
cause problems.
Until now, virtual prototyping technology has not completely rendered physical
testing obsolete. However, the role of physical prototypes has now shifted to
that of validating the virtual model. After the virtual prototyping process has
yielded a design that on the computer appears robust and meets all the design
objectives, a physical model can be built to validate the data from the computer
model to ensure the design is indeed applicable in real life.
However, because most of the problems have been discovered and worked out
in the virtual prototyping process, the physical prototype is likely to be nearly
ready for manufacture with very few errors.
All of these advantages resulted in a drastically reduced time frame, from the
idea to the introduction of the first prototype of the intra-row weeding tool. The
reduction of costs and time needed for prototype development was one of the
major benefits of virtual prototyping.