1,318 research outputs found

    Understanding the Automotive Pedal Usage and Foot Movement Characteristics of Older Drivers

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    The purpose of this study was to understand the pedal usage characteristics of older drivers in various driving tasks using an instrumented vehicle. This study stemmed from the prevalence of the pedal application errors (PAEs) and the older drivers’overrepresentation in crashes caused by PAEs. With the population increasing and becoming older, it is estimated that in 2020 there will be 40 million drivers over the age of 65 in the United States. Compared with their younger counterparts, older drivers are facing declining cognitive and physical abilities, such as impaired vision, slower reaction time and diminishing range of limb motion. Because these abilities are closely associated both with the driving task and the ability to recover from a crash, older drivers are overrepresented in vehicle crash involvement rate, and they are especially vulnerable to injuries caused by the crashes. Pedal misapplication crash is a type of crash preceded by a driver mistakenly pressing the accelerator pedal. Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report on PAE. The report reveals that older drivers are overrepresented in pedal misapplication crashes and that several driving tasks are overrepresented, such as emergency stopping, parking lot maneuvers and reaching out of the vehicle to interact with a curb-side device such as a card reader, mailbox, or ATM. Existing research has investigated the PAEs from different perspectives, but questions remain as to why older drivers are more likely to commit PAEs in these driving tasks. The current study investigated the pedal usage characteristics of 26 older drivers in driving tasks, such as startle-braking, forward parking and reaching out from the vehicle, which are scenarios associated with higher risk of PAEs. Ten stopping tasks were also investigated as baseline tasks. The study was conducted on-road using an instrumented vehicle. The data collected by the instrumented vehicle included pedal travel (potentiometer), force applied on the pedals (Tekscan sensor), and video recordings of each driver’s upper body and his or her foot movement. The study findings include the following: a) There are significantly positive correlations between a driver’s stature and the percent of foot pivoting, as well as between the shoe length and the percent of foot pivoting, which means the taller the driver or the longer the driver’s shoe, the more likely the driver will use foot pivoting instead of foot lifting in the baseline stopping tasks; b) In the startle-braking task, the driver is more likely to use foot lifting than that in the baseline tasks; c) The foot movement strategy is not found to affect lateral foot placement in either the baseline stopping tasks or the startle-braking task; d) When reaching out of the driver’s window to swipe a card at a card reader, the lateral foot placement on the brake pedal will bias rightward, compared with the lateral foot placement prior to reaching out; e) Approaching a gated access or parking in a dark, relatively confined parking space does not significantly slow down a driver’ foot transfer from the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal; f) Stature of a driver does not significantly affect the time required to successfully complete a card-swiping task. A driver’s pedal operation characteristics are associated with many factors, among which four factors are identified to be relevant to the driver’s pedal operation: stature, shoe length, startle stimuli and reaching out of the driver’s window. To identify the direct causes of PAEs, future research should investigate the pedal operation characteristics in a more controlled environment. For example, an eye-tracking device can be used to study the relationship between gaze direction and foot movement. Other driving scenarios, such as reversing, should be studied as well. In addition, a study with a larger sample size and novice drivers is necessary to validate the findings of the current study and to understand the PAEs among the population with little driving experience. The current study has both clinical and engineering implications. For occupational therapists and driving rehabilitation specialists, factors such as stature, leg length, footwear, vehicle type and pedal configuration may provide information about driver’s foot behaviors. For example, drivers with flat-soled shoes may tend to use foot lifting and drivers with wedged shoes may tend to use foot pivoting. Drivers with very wide shoes may get the shoe caught under the brake pedal when pivoting from the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal. Drivers with short leg length may be able to use foot pivoting when driving a sports vehicle, but they would have to use foot lifting when driving a large truck. Drivers tend to use foot lifting when the pedals are higher above from the vehicle floor and drivers tend to use foot pivoting when the pedals are lower above the vehicle floor. An in-clinic test of a driver’s lower extremity functions prior to on-road assessment helps to select the appropriate test vehicles. For example, it is recommended that shorter drivers with weaker lower extremity functions use vehicles of which the pedals are lower above the vehicle floor. To reduce the chance of a driver’s foot slipping off the brake pedal, engineers should consider redesigning the pedal pad to increase the friction coefficient of shoe-pedal contact. For example, using tread width of 2mm produces higher friction values. In addition, Automatic Vehicle Identification can be implemented so that the drivers do not have to reach out of the window to swipe card and to enter a gated access. Other driver assistance systems such as Autonomous Emergency Braking and Automated Parking System can either mitigate the damage or eliminate the chance of a human error

    Cryptic species in tropic sands--interactive 3D anatomy, molecular phylogeny and evolution of meiofaunal Pseudunelidae (Gastropoda, Acochlidia)

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    Towards realistic estimations of the diversity of marine animals, tiny meiofaunal species usually are underrepresented. Since the biological species concept is hardly applicable on exotic and elusive animals, it is even more important to apply a morphospecies concept on the best level of information possible, using accurate and efficient methodology such as 3D modelling from histological sections. Molecular approaches such as sequence analyses may reveal further, cryptic species. This is the first case study on meiofaunal gastropods to test diversity estimations from traditional taxonomy against results from modern microanatomical methodology and molecular systematics

    Could Intelligent Speed Adaptation make overtaking unsafe?

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    This driving simulator study investigated how mandatory and voluntary ISA might affect a driver's overtaking decisions on rural roads, by presenting drivers with a variety of overtaking scenarios designed to evaluate both the frequency and safety of the manoeuvres. In half the overtaking scenarios, ISA was active and in the remainder ISA was switched off. A rural road was modelled with a number of 2 + 1 road sections, thus allowing drivers a protected overtaking opportunity. The results indicate that drivers became less inclined to initiate an overtaking manoeuvre when the mandatory ISA was active and this was particularly so when the overtaking opportunity was short. In addition to this, when ISA was activated drivers were more likely to have to abandon an overtaking, presumably due to running out of road. They also spent more time in the critical hatched area - a potentially unsafe behaviour. The quality of the overtaking manoeuvre was also affected when mandatory ISA was active, with drivers pulling out and cutting back in more sharply. In contrast, when driving with a voluntary ISA, overtaking behaviour remained mostly unchanged: drivers disengaged the function in approximately 70% of overtaking scenarios. The results of this study suggest that mandatory ISA could affect the safety of overtaking manoeuvres unless coupled with an adaptation period or other driver support functions that support safe overtaking

    Some NASA contributions to human factors engineering: A survey

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    This survey presents the NASA contributions to the state of the art of human factors engineering, and indicates that these contributions have a variety of applications to nonaerospace activities. Emphasis is placed on contributions relative to man's sensory, motor, decisionmaking, and cognitive behavior and on applications that advance human factors technology

    Fluid Powered Vehicle Challenge: Team Soulenoid Cycle

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    The National Fluid Power Association is a trade association that unifies customers and manufacturers within the hydraulics industry. Extending their partnership to universities, the annual Fluid Powered Vehicle Competition challenges college teams to design, build, and test a fluid-powered vehicle with the goal of educating students about the hydraulics industry and building career connections. Soulenoid Cycle produced the next iteration of Cal Poly’s fluid powered vehicle for the 2021 competition. This report summarizes research, ideation, component selection, initial and final design, manufacturing, and competition results conducted by Soulenoid Cycle. Relevant research includes successful current and past vehicles, the operation of a hydraulic propulsion system, and popular controller and sensor choices for hydraulic systems. Based on the requirements of the competition, performance of competitors, and guidance from a previous Cal Poly team, Soulenoid Cycle identified three major areas of improvement for this year’s competing vehicle: sprint time, hydraulic efficiency, and mechatronics. Development of the goals and objectives discussed in this report were critical to the success of this project. By solidifying a foundation of preliminary research, defining the scope of work, and making initial design and component selections, Soulenoid Cycle was successful when approaching final vehicle design and manufacturing, and the 2021 Fluid Powered Vehicle Competition

    Hands-Free Control Interfaces for an Extra Vehicular Jetpack

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    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) strategic vision includes, as part of its long-term goals, the exploration of deep space and Near Earth Asteroids (NEA). To support these endeavors, funds have been invested in research to develop advanced exploration capabilities. To enable the human mobility necessary to effectively explore NEA and deep space, a new extravehicular activity (EVA) Jetpack is under development at the Johnson Space Center. The new design leverages knowledge and experience gained from the current astronaut rescue device, the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER). Whereas the primary goal for a rescue device is to return the crew to a safe haven, in-space exploration and navigation requires an expanded set of capabilities. To accommodate the range of tasks astronauts may be expected to perform while utilizing the Jetpack, it was desired to offer a hands-free method of control. This paper describes the development and innovations involved in creating two hands-free control interfaces and an experimental test platform for a suited astronaut flying the Jetpack during an EVA

    MEMS 411: Dressmaker Pin Dispenser

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    The goal of this project was to design, manufacture, and test a machine which can dispense dressmaker pins in a consistent orientation, allowing the user can easily, and safely remove them one at a time. The purpose of the machine is to increase the efficiency and safety of sewers who may use dressmaker pins daily

    Assistive Guitar Plucking Device and User Interface

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    The goal of the project was to develop a wireless, battery-powered device with a plucking mechanism and a wearable user interface (UI) that would enable individuals with physical disabilities to play a guitar. The plucking mechanism, mounted to an adjustable frame around the guitar, has 3D printed plectra to actuate each guitar string. The inertial measurement unit based UI is comprised of two wearable devices that calculate which strings to pluck, by using sensor fusion to track user motion and device orientation. Music provides people an avenue to express their emotions and has been shown to stimulate the brain in uniquely beneficial ways. This project provides an opportunity to create music for individuals who have not previously had access to this experience

    Development and evaluation of a body weight support treadmill for use with locomotor training on pediatric spinal cord injury patients.

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    The consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI) are devastating regardless of the age of a patient. When the injury occurs in children five years old or younger, however, the impact is magnified due to the inevitable development of scoliosis (96%) and hip dysplasia (57%) (Schottler et al., 2012). To reduce occurrence of these complications and improve the quality of life for these patients, specialized activity-based therapies such as locomotor training (LT) are being increasingly used to improve overall trunk control and muscle activity in the lower extremities (Harkema et al., 2012; Howland et al., 2014). The aim of this therapy is to activate the neuromuscular networks below and across the level of the lesion via intense practice and repetition of the task of walking and standing. To conduct LT, the re-training of the neuromuscular network occurs during training on a specialized treadmill with an integrated system for monitoring, controlling, and recording the patient’s body weight support (BWS) (via a patented force feedback system) and manual trainers that promote a task-specific, sensorimotor experience. While body weight support treadmills (BWST) exist for LT with adults, none have been developed specifically for children. Adult systems are neither suited to the needs of the pediatric population, nor to the needs of the physical therapist and trainers providing the therapy. This thesis reports on the development of a body weight support treadmill specifically designed to enable pediatric LT. Evaluation of this prototype will lead to further system development with the end goal to develop a marketable clinical ready body weight support treadmill for use with the pediatric population

    20008-2009 SAE Baja Race Vehicle

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    The objective of this project was to design and fabricate a racing vehicle for participation in SAE\u27s Baja World Challenge. The vehicle was designed using mathematical and computer-aided modeling and simulation, resulting in a safe, high-performance vehicle for off-road competition, with a lightweight, high strength, and high durability. The vehicle was fabricated meticulously by the team, using WPI facilities, comprehensively satisfying both the design goals and manufacturing constraints, and will compete in June 2009
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