A real bicycle simulator in a virtual reality environment: the FIVIS project

For almost all modern means of transportation (car, train, airplane) driving simulators exist that provide realistic models of complex traffic situations under defined laboratory conditions. For many years, these simulators have been successfully used for drivers’ training and education and have considerably contributed to the overall road safety. Unfortunately, there is no such advanced system for the bicycle, although the number of bike accidents has been increasing against the common trend during the last decade. Hence the objective of this project is to design a real bicycle simulator that is able to generate any desired traffic situation within an immersive visualization environment. For this purpose the bike is mounted onto a motion platform with six degrees of freedom that enables a close-to-reality simulation of external forces acting on the bike. This system is surrounded by three projection walls displaying a virtual scenario. A physical model is developed in order to compute the bike’s mechanical behavior that corresponds to the visualized traffic and the reaction of the driver. In order to validate the model an off-the-shelve mountain bike is equipped with a set of physical sensors (e.g. acceleration, steering angle, declination) to monitor the mechanics of the bike during real test drives. This data is also used to feed the motion platform with real measurements (e.g. to model a bumpy street). As the driver in our bike simulator experiences both controllable physical and visual stimuli, this system facilitates a range of completely new applications in the field of safety at work, in the area of neuropsychological research and in road safety education.