Design and Development of Haptic Steering wheel for Automobile

The driving environment can have a lot of distraction and cognitive load on drivers? eyes that can cause safety issues. Driver?s safety is the main motive behind Steering wheel haptic feedback technologies. To ensure driver safety we will be working on designing a haptic feedback system to provide t

Project Title

Design and Development of Haptic Steering wheel for Automobile

Project Area of Specialization

Mechatronics Engineering

Project Summary

The driving environment can have a lot of distraction and cognitive load on drivers’ eyes that can cause safety issues. Driver’s safety is the main motive behind Steering wheel haptic feedback technologies. To ensure driver safety we will be working on designing a haptic feedback system to provide tactical cues to the driver. There are different ways to provide feedback signals to the driver. There is a lot of research previously done in which complex systems were used to convey haptic responses. We will be using a simple haptic steering wheel design for conveying signals to the driver with maximum efficiency and feedback response. The steering wheel will be designed that is comfortable to grip. can provide tactical cues to the driver accurately. At the end of this study, we will be able to provide a simple steering design that provides efficient haptic feedback to the driver while using simple and easy-to-understand haptic signals.

Project Objectives

• The first objective of this study will be to design a haptic steering wheel that can provide tactical cues to the driver. The design should be comfortable and easy to grip.
• Our next objective will be to develop unique, easily recognizable signal patterns. The next task will be testing these signals on subjects to get feedback and for their improvement.
• The third objective of this study will be to assign different signals to different driving events so that they can be used in future projects
• The final objective is to conduct a study that will check the credibility and accuracy of our proposed system that will determine the practical importance of our project.

Project Implementation Method

We will be working on a haptic feedback system using a basic steering wheel with an efficient haptic driver DRV2605L. This driver specializes in haptic motor actuation. It provides many variations in the transmission of vibration signals so that they can be used for a variety of purposes. Drv2605l works with haptic actuators, including eccentric rotation mass motors (ERM), linear resonance actuators (LRA), piezo, and solenoids. Motors will be placed in a defined pattern and positions so that they produce a continuous spectrum of signals on both sides of the steering. Vibration Signals of different amplitude, duration, and frequency will be transferred through the driver to motors and then to the subject’s palm driving the vehicle. Arduino controller board will be used to communicate between the driver and motors embed.

Using DRV2605L we will produce a variety of signals including small buzz, long buzz, single click, double click, triple-click, and ramping vibrations from low to high and high to low amplitude. These variations will further be accredited to certain actions for example a long buzz signifies the driver to stop immediately etc.

A list of signals will be used in the approach. The signals that will be finalized through multidimensional scaling will be used in experiments with subjects. The usability of a certain signal will be judged upon the experiment conducted. The experiment will clarify the efficiency of a certain signal related to a certain action.

A general process is shown in Figure 1

Then finally we will conduct a study that will check the credibility and accuracy of our proposed system that will determine the practical importance of our project.

Benefits of the Project

• Our project is a step forward towards the automation of automobiles in which these signals can be used to provide information to the driver only by keeping is hand on steering wheel.
•  Driver’s safety is the main motive behind Steering wheel haptic feedback technologies. To ensure driver safety our work on designing a haptic feedback system to provide tactical cues to the driver will decrease the cognitive load of the driver.
• The haptic signal that will come as a result of this study will be unique and can be used in other fields as well like gaming controllers to give a much more realistic experience.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

1. A mechanical design of a steering wheel that is capable of playing haptic signals. It is designed in a way that it can be easily mounted on any table for experimentation and gives a feel of driving a vehicle.
2. A set of unique and easily recognizable haptic signals.
3. Different signals for different driving events will be the result of a user study.
4.  A detailed research paper on our complete user study and our system's accuracy and its practical importance.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Transportation

Other Industries

Manufacturing , Others

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Augmented & Virtual Reality

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com