WO2022260511A1

WO2022260511A1 - Bicycle simulator

Info

Publication number: WO2022260511A1
Application number: PCT/NL2022/050304
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eric MARIS
Original assignee: Stichting Radboud Universiteit
Priority date: 2021-06-07
Filing date: 2022-06-01
Publication date: 2022-12-15
Also published as: NL2028397B1

Abstract

A bicycle simulator system (1), comprising a support base (2) having a front end (2a) configured to support a front wheel (Fw) of a bicycle (B), and a rear end (2b) configured to support a rear wheel (Rw) of the bicycle (B). A display device (5) is provided for arrangement in front of the support base (2), wherein a virtual reality, VR, processing system (6) is provided for communicative connection (7) to the display device (5). The VR processing system (6) is configured to: display a VR road environment (E) on the display device (5); detect a lateral position (P) of the bicycle (B) and a rider (R) thereon with respect to the support base (2); and change the VR road environment (E) being displayed in response to a detected change in the lateral position (P) of the bicycle and the rider (R).

Description

Bicycle Simulator Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a bicycle simulator, in particular a bicycle simulator system for diagnostic and training purposes.

Background art

European patent application EP 3808418 A1 discloses a bicycle simulator for virtual rides, in which various travel routes may be virtually experienced in an indoor space and exercise effects may be obtained. The bicycle simulator comprises a frame support portion for supporting a frame of a bicycle, wherein the bicycle frame connects front and rear wheels of the bicycle. A base portion is provided that supports the frame support portion, wherein the frame support portion comprises a first support bar having one end portion thereof fixed to the bicycle frame and a second support bar having one end portion thereof fixed to the base portion; and a connection portion for connecting the other end portion of the second support bar and the other end portion of the first support bar, wherein the first support bar is connected to be rotatable about one axis with respect to the second support bar. As the first support bar rotates with respect to the second support bar, the bicycle may be tilted at the same angle as a rotation angle of the first support bar. The bicycle simulator may further comprise a display device for visually providing a preset travel environment to a rider, wherein the first support bar rotates about the one axis with respect to the second support bar to match a slope of a travel environment provided in real time through the display device.

Summary of the invention The present invention seeks to provide an improved bicycle simulator system for diagnostic and training purposes, wherein the bicycle simulator system allows for an immersive virtual reality cycling experience that closely resembles cycling on public roads. Different from existing simulators (stationary bicycle trainers, rollers), the present invention 1) allows a rider to use steering to balance the bicycle, and 2) provides realistic visual feedback about a rider's lateral position on a simulated bicycle path.

According to the present invention, a bicycle simulator system as defined above is provided wherein the bicycle simulator system comprising a support base having a front end configured to support a front wheel of a bicycle, and a rear end configured to support a rear wheel of the bicycle, wherein the bicycle simulator system further comprises a display device for arrangement in front of the support base proximal to the front end thereof. A virtual reality, VR, processing system is provided and configured for communicative connection to the display device, wherein the VR processing system is configured to: display a VR road environment on the display device; detect a lateral position of the bicycle and a rider/cyclist on the bicycle with respect to the support base; and to change the VR road environment being displayed by the display device in response to a detected change in the lateral position of the bicycle and the rider with respect to the support base.

According to the present invention, the bicycle simulator system allows the rider to use the same sensorimotor balance control strategy as used on public bicycle paths when steering the bicycle laterally across the support base ("steering-into-the-fall”). In addition, the VR processing system allows for natural feedback in response to lateral displacement of the bicycle across the support base. That is, when the rider changes the lateral position with respect to the support base while riding the bicycle, the VR processing system is configured to change, e.g. in real-time, the VR road environment in correspondence to the change in lateral position, thereby allowing a rider to use a natural sensorimotor balance control strategy in a completely immersive VR road environment.

Combining a natural sensorimotor balance control strategy with the natural visual feedback provided by the VR road environment makes the bicycle simulator system of the present invention an excellent choice for training and revalidation.

Short description of drawings

The present invention will be discussed in more detail below, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of a bicycle simulator system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and wherein

Figure 2 shows a schematic top view of a bicycle simulator system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of embodiments Figures 1 and 2 show a schematic side view and a top view, respectively, of a bicycle simulator system 1 according to embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the bicycle simulator system 1 comprises a support base 2 having a front end 2a configured to support a front wheel Fw of a bicycle B, and a rear end 2b configured to support a rear wheel Rw of the bicycle.

In the embodiments depicted, the front end 2a may be provided with a moveable belt assembly 3 to support the front wheel Fw, and the rear end 2b may be provided with a rotatable roller assembly 4 to support the rear wheel Rw, wherein the belt assembly 3 is connected to the roller assembly 4 and driven by the roller assembly 4 during operation, e.g. using a chain or belt arrangement C between the belt and roller assemblies 3, 4. The belt assembly 3 is advantageous to allow for natural yaw motion of the bicycle B that occurs following steering input. In a more specific embodiment, the moveably belt assembly 3 may comprise two spaced apart front end rollers 3a, 3b and a belt 3c that extends around the two belt rollers 3a, 3b to support the front wheel Fw on the belt 3c. The roller assembly 4 may comprise two spaced apart rear end rollers 4a, 4b to support the real wheel Rw there between. In an even further embodiment, the roller assembly 4 may comprise a single roller, provided the bicycle B is mounted to the support base 2 for keeping the bicycle 2 in place longitudinally between the front and rear end 2a, 2b of the support base 2. In this embodiment the lateral movement of the bicycle B is not impeded so that natural lateral movements across the support base 2 are maintained. In yet even further embodiments it is conceivable that the roller assembly 4 comprises a belt to support the rear wheel Rw. The bicycle simulator system 1 further comprises a display device 5 for arrangement in front of the support base 2 proximal to the front end 2a thereof, and a virtual reality, VR, processing system 6 configured for communicative connection 7 to the display device 5. The VR processing system 6 is configured to display a VR road environment E on the display device 5. Here, the VR road environment E may be envisaged as any road surface on an artificial background but also any road surface fully immersed in real-world scenery is conceivable.

As shown in Figure 2, the VR processing system 6 is further configured to detect a lateral position P of the bicycle B and a rider R on the bicycle B with respect to the support base 2, and then to change the VR road environment E being displayed by the display device 5 in response to a detected change in the lateral position P of the bicycle and the rider R with respect to the support base 2. For ease of reference, the bicycle B and a rider R thereon may also be referred to as a rider-bicycle pair.

According to the present invention, the bicycle simulator system 1 allows for direct feedback in response to lateral displacement AL of the bicycle B along the support base 2. So when the rider changes lateral position P with respect to the support base 2 while riding the bicycle B, the VR processing system 6 is configured to show, e.g. in real-time, the VR road environment E that corresponds to the lateral position P. This provides for proprioceptive and vestibular feedback that is identical to a normal or regular bicycle ride but in a completely immersive VR road environment, i.e. what the rider R sees on the display device 5 in their field of view V. The virtual reality feedback offered by the bicycle simulator system 1 and the VR processing system 6 thereof allows detailed information on control strategies to be determined as used by the rider R to maintain the bicycle B in an upright position and how steering movement is performed.

Regarding the VR processing system 6 and the VR road environment E being displayed, in an exemplary embodiment, the change of the VR road environment E being displayed by/on the display device 5 incorporates parallax in response to the detected change in the lateral position P of the bicycle B and the rider R with respect to the support base 2. That is, in this embodiment the VR processing system 6 is configured to incorporate parallax into the VR road environment E in response to lateral change of the bicycle B and rider R, so where displacement or a difference in an apparent position of an object is taken into account when viewed on the display device 5 along two different lines of sight of the rider R as a result of lateral displacement AL along the support base 2. In this way depth perception is improved so that the rider R experiences a realistic change in the VR road environment E when steering the bicycle B in lateral direction.

The immersive experience of the VR road environment E can be further improved in an exemplary embodiment wherein the change of the VR road environment E being displayed by the display device 5 incorporates motion parallax in response to detected lateral movement of the lateral position P of the bicycle B and the rider R with respect to the support base 2. Comparable to the previous embodiment, in this embodiment the VR processing system 6 is configured to incorporate motion parallax into the VR road environment E, so wherein objects moving at e.g. a constant speed across a frame on the display device 5 will appear to move a greater amount if they look closer to the rider R. In this way depth perception is further improved so that the rider R experiences an even more realistic change in the VR road environment E when steering the bicycle B in lateral direction of the support base 2.

In light of incorporating the above mentioned exemplary types of parallax to achieve a realistic VR experience, in a further exemplary embodiment the VR processing system 6 may be configured to incorporate optic flow processing techniques, e.g. image processing techniques, to determine apparent motion of objects in a scene of the VR road environment caused by relative motion between the rider R and the scene.

Detecting the speed of the bicycle B (e.g. via a rotational speed of the front wheel Fw or the rear wheel Rw) for input to the VR processing system 6 may be advantageous for realizing the immersive VR road environment E. So in an embodiment, the VR processing system 6 may be further configured to detect a speed of the bicycle B, i.e. detect a rotational speed of the front wheel Fw or the rear wheel Rw, during operation. The VR processing system 6 may then change the speed of the dynamic VR road environment E being displayed by the display device 5 in response to the detected speed of the bicycle B.

The detected speed of the bicycle B can be taken into account when incorporating the aforementioned (motion) parallax in response to detected lateral movement of the lateral position P of the bicycle B and the rider R with respect to the support base 2. By considering both the lateral position P and the speed of the bicycle B further contributes to natural depth perception and as such the realistic changes in the VR road environment E are improved when steering the bicycle B in lateral direction at a particular speed of the bicycle B. Similarly, an embodiment is conceivable wherein the VR processing system 6 is configured to incorporate optic flow processing techniques, e.g. image processing techniques, to determine apparent motion of objects in a scene of the VR road environment E caused by relative motion between the rider R and the scene whilst taking into account the speed of the bicycle B, e.g. taking into account rotational speed of the front wheel Fw or the rear wheel Rw.

As mentioned above, the VR processing system 6 is configured to detect a lateral position P of the bicycle B and a rider R, i.e. a rider-bicycle pair, with respect to the support base 2. To that end, in an exemplary embodiment the VR processing system 6 comprises a camera 8 and one or more visual markers 9 for placement on the bicycle B and/or the rider R, wherein the VR processing system 6 is further configured to change the VR road environment E being displayed by the display device 5 in response to a detected change in lateral position of the one or more visual markers 9 by the camera 8. Here, the change in lateral position of the one or more visual markers 9 may be seen as representative of the change in the lateral position P of the bicycle and the rider R. In this embodiment is it possible to only place one or more visual markers 9 on the rider R, e.g. on the head, shoulder, backside, arms, and/or legs etc. This will allow detailed kinematic analysis and/or diagnosis of balance control strategies of e.g. the rider R when using the bicycle simulator system

1. It is also conceivable that one or more visual markers 9 are placed on the bicycle B only, thereby restricting e.g. kinematic analysis and/or diagnosis of balance control strategies to the bicycle B when used by the rider R. Comprehensive kinematic analysis and/or diagnosis of balance control strategies is possible by placing one or more visual markers 9 on the bicycle B and one or more visual markers 9 on the rider R.

In an embodiment, the bicycle simulator system 1 may further comprising one or more sensors 10 for placement on the bicycle B and communicative connection to the VR processing system 6. Such sensors on the bicycle B may be used to obtain measurements on specific characteristics of the bicycle B during use, e.g. load.

Since the bicycle simulator system 1 allows for lateral motion of the bicycle B and the rider R to be fed back to the VR processing system 6, it is conceivable that in further embodiments a lean angle of the bicycle B and/or rider R may be fed back and taken into account as well for e.g. further diagnosis of the rider’s balance control strategy. So in an embodiment the VR processing system 6 may be further configured to detect a lean angle of the bicycle B and/or the rider R with respect to the support base 2 during operation. In exemplary embodiments the aforementioned one or more visual markers 9 and/or one or more sensor 10 may be used to detect the lean angle.

According to the present invention, the bike simulator system 1 provides a VR cycling experience that matches real-world conditions as much as possible, so that the behaviour of the bicycle B and the rider R on the bike simulator system 1 is representative of a bicycle ride in reality.

To further increase the immersive VR cycling experience to a realistic experience, an embodiment is provided wherein the belt assembly 3 and the roller assembly 4 each have a lateral width Ws of at least 1 .5 meter, e.g. 1.7 meter. This lateral width Ws matches a road width Wr that a cyclist may encounter in reality, such as a bicycle lane. As a result, the bicycle simulator system 1 may become relatively wide, i.e. where a lateral width of the bicycle simulator system 1 is larger than a length thereof as measured between e.g. the front and rear end 2a, 2b of the support base

2. This embodiment is advantageous as there may be a one-to-one correspondence between the change in lateral position P and what is shown in the VR road environment E. So when a rider R decides to move 1 meter to the left or right for avoiding an obstacle for example, then the VR processing system 6 may change the VR road environment E to show a change that matches this lateral displacement in a natural way. For example, by incorporating parallax in the VR road environment E that naturally matches the 1 meter displacement. As depicted, the VR processing system 6 may be configured to show the VR road environment E on the display device 5 with a road width Wr that equals the lateral width Ws of the belt and/or roller assembly 3, 4.

It is worth noting that the belt assembly 3 and/or roller assembly 4 may impose a too high rolling resistance when the bike simulator system 1 is in operation. This may be caused by the roller assembly 4 driving the belt assembly 3, for example, thereby imposing further rolling resistance. It may also be the case that rollers used for the belt and/or roller assembly 1 have high resistance to rotation for example. Regardless of the source that imposes rolling resistance, to compensate for such rolling resistance an embodiment is provided wherein the bicycle simulator system 1 comprises an electrical motor assist 11. This electric motor assist 11 may be configured to assist the belt assembly 3 and/or roller assembly 4 to achieve a desired perceived rolling resistance.

As mentioned earlier, the speed of the bicycle B may be an advantageous input to the VR processing system 6 for creating the immersive VR road environment E. To that end, an exemplary embodiment may be considered wherein the belt assembly 3 for supporting the front wheel Fw or the roller assembly 4 for supporting the rear wheel Rw comprises a speed sensor. This speed sensor allows detection of a rotational speed of the front wheel Fw or the rear wheel Rw for use by the VR processing system 6, thereby improving (motion) parallax and/or optic flow by taking into account both the lateral movement and the speed of the bicycle B.

As further depicted in the Figures 1 and 2, in an embodiment the support base 2 may further comprise a support platform 12 arranged between the belt assembly 3 and the roller assembly 4, wherein the belt assembly 3 and/or the roller assembly 4 comprises a brake member 13 for stopping motion of the belt and/or the roller assembly 3, 4 during use. The brake member 13 is communicatively connected to the support platform 12 for engagement and disengagement in response to the presence of a load on the support platform 12. In this embodiment the support platform 12 allows a rider R to e.g. mount or dismount the bicyle B. The bike simulator system 1 then allows to stop movement of the belt and/or roller assembly 3, 4, when the rider R steps on the support platform 12, for example, thereby increasing safety and prevent accidents when dismounting the bicycle B during use of the bike simulator system 1. In exemplary embodiments the support platform 12 may comprise a load/weight sensor and/or motion sensor for detecting when a load is imposed on the support platform 12.

In a further advantageous embodiment , the bike simulator system 1 may further comprising an overhead safety rail 14 mountable above the support base 2 and extending between the front end 2a and the rear end 2b thereof. The overhead safety rail 14 enables use of a harness worn by the rider R, wherein the harness is configured to couple to the overhead safety rail 14. Such a harness prevents the rider R from falling of the bicycle B and as such prevents injury.

The present invention has been described above with reference to a number of exemplary embodiments as shown in the drawings. Modifications and alternative implementations of some parts or elements are possible, and are included in the scope of protection as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A bicycle simulator system (1 ), comprising a support base (2) having a front end (2a) configured to support a front wheel (Fw) of a bicycle (B), and a rear end (2b) configured to support a rear wheel (Rw) of the bicycle (B), wherein the bicycle simulator system (1 ) further comprises a display device (5) for arrangement in front of the support base (2) proximal to the front end (2a) thereof; and a virtual reality, VR, processing system (6) configured for communicative connection (7) to the display device (5), and wherein the VR processing system (6) is configured to: display a VR road environment (E) on the display device (5); detect a lateral position (P) of the bicycle (B) and a rider (R) on the bicycle (B) with respect to the support base (2); change the VR road environment (E) being displayed by the display device (5) in response to a detected change in the lateral position (P) of the bicycle and the rider (R) with respect to the support base (2), and wherein the change of the VR road environment (E) being displayed by the display device (5) incorporates parallax in response to the detected change in the lateral position (P) of the bicycle (B) and the rider (R) with respect to the support base (2).

2. The bicycle simulator system according to claim 1 , wherein the change of the VR road environment (E) being displayed by the display device (5) incorporates motion parallax in response to detected lateral movement of the lateral position (P) of the bicycle (B) and the rider (R) with respect to the support base (2).

3. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 1-2, wherein the VR processing system (6) comprises a camera (8) and one or more visual markers (9) for placement on the bicycle (B) and/or the rider (R), wherein the VR processing system (6) is configured to change the VR road environment (E) being displayed by the display device (5) in response to a detected change in lateral position of the one or more visual markers (9) by the camera (8).

4. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising one or more sensors (10) for placement on the bicycle (B) and connection to the VR processing system (6).

5. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the VR processing system (6) is further configured to detect a lean angle of the bicycle (B) and/or the rider (R) with respect to the support base (2) during operation.

6. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the VR processing system (6) is further configured to detect a rotational speed of the front wheel (Fw) or the rear wheel (Rw) during operation.

7. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the front end (2a) is provided with a moveable belt assembly (3) and the rear end (2b) is provided with a rotatable roller assembly (4), wherein the belt assembly (3) is connected to the roller assembly (4) and driven by the roller assembly (4) during operation.

8. The bicycle simulator system according to claim 7, wherein the belt assembly (3) and the roller assembly (4) each have a lateral width (Ws) of at least 1.5 meter.

9. The bicycle simulator system according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising an electrical motor assist (11) configured for driving the belt assembly (3) and/or the roller assembly (4).

10. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 7-9, wherein the belt assembly (3) or the roller assembly (4) comprises a speed sensor for detecting a rotational speed of the front wheel (Fw) or rear wheel (Rw).

11. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 1-10, wherein the support base (2) further comprises a support platform (12) arranged between the belt assembly (3) and the roller assembly (4), wherein the belt assembly (3) and/or the roller assembly (4) comprises a brake member (13) for stopping motion of the belt and/or the roller assembly (3, 4) during use, and wherein the brake member (13) is communicatively connected to the support platform (12) for engagement and disengagement in response to the presence of a load on the support platform (12).

12. The bicycle simulator system according to any one of claims 1-11, further comprising an overhead safety rail (14) mountable above the support base (2) and extending between the front end (2a) and the rear end (2b) thereof.