Senior Design Projects

ECS193 A/B Winter & Spring 2022

Proposal: Developing a Visual Platform for All-Terrain Vehicle-Riding Simulator

Email **********
Name Farzaneh Khorsandi Kouhanestani
Affiliation Assistant Professor of Cooperative Extension

Project's details

Project title Proposal: Developing a Visual Platform for All-Terrain Vehicle-Riding Simulator
Background All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are widely used for occupational and recreational purposes. About 700 deaths and 100,000 injuries are annually reported in the United States; Youths constitute 20% of these numbers. The injury rate of youth ATV operators is 12 times more than adults. It has been hypothesized that many youth-related ATV incidents occur because children ride ATVs that do not fit their capabilities. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate youth’s mental and physical capabilities.
Description Agricultural Safety and Health Lab at UC Davis collaborates with the University of Iowa to develop an ATV-riding simulator to evaluate youths’ mental capabilities for riding ATVs. The simulator is already set at the University of Iowa. There is a need for developing a visual platform coupled with the ATV-riding simulator. This proposed study will develop the required infrastructure to evaluate the youth's mental capabilities while riding utility ATV. This project’s output includes a prototype of the riding simulator for utility ATV which consists of three components: 1- Straddle seat with the capability to simulate the vibration (based on the trial type), tilting the ATV in yaw, roll, and pitch (based on trial slope, riding direction, etc.), and react to the operator’s active riding. (Already developed) 2- ATV Controls include the accelerator, hand and foot brake, gearshift controller, axillary controls (light, ignition switch, etc.). The required forces to activate each ATV control have already been measured in the PI’s lab for 40 models. In addition, an ATV tracking device has been developed in the lab and applied to collect the riding characteristic (vibration, acceleration, average speed, etc.) of an ATV on the farm. (already developed) 3- A visual simulator includes multiple screens in front of the operator and Virtual Reality Glasses. A gaming platform will be used for simulating the visual experience of riding the ATV. In addition, the visual component will be capable of reacting to the operator commands through a code developed in the lab. (to be done)
Deliverable The final product is an ATV simulator that can evaluate youth’s mental capabilities to ride ATVs. This device also can be used for training purposes for the child.
Skill set desirable • embedded systems • virtual reality (VR) techniques • computer-aided design programs
Phone number **********
Client time availability 30-60 min weekly or more
IP requirement Client wishes to keep IP of the project
Attachment Click here
Selected No
Team members N/A
TA N/A