Student Research Symposium Program Portal: Submission #125

Abstract The rapid advancement in racing platform capabilities have led to unprecedented performance, subjecting drivers to extreme forces that are surpassing physiological limits. Maintaining precise vehicle control has become increasingly complex, making necessary the development of assistive technologies. Contemporary solutions have begun focusing on steering ratio modulation and the implementation of steer-by-wire systems, following past trends in aerospace innovation.
The aerospace industry has successfully implemented fly-by-wire systems, and in the most high performance applications, proprioception as a part of the control scheme is well proven. Proprioception is the human body’s ability to sense position and movement in three-dimensional space, and the human's inherent ability for proprioception makes it an ideal part of a closed loop control system. This is an opportunity to enhance the human-machine interface in a high-performance environment, where the margins for error are minute. The proposed research aims to develop an automotive proprioception steering system that is engineered for high-performance racing vehicles, and will be fully vetted in a simulated racing environment. This novel approach seeks to leverage human proprioception capabilities with advanced electronic control systems to revolutionize how drivers interact with their vehicles under extreme conditions.