Motorcycle Riding Simulator Controllability and Simulator Sickness: A Proof-of-Concept System

Driving a motorcycle relies on the feedback provided by several human sensory systems, on the one hand, and anticipation of the consequences of control actions, on the other hand. Driving simulators aim to create the illusion of driving by stimulating the driver's sensory systems. However, a significant number of drivers experience simulator sickness, which hinders the usefulness of driving simulators in their applications, such as driving behavior research or training / retraining. Simulator sickness occurrence is often attributed to sensory conflict. In this work, we propose an approach to understanding simulator sickness by considering the need for coherence between the complexity of the vehicle model and the complexity of the simulator from a hardware point-of-view, which constrains the fidelity of the reproduced sensory stimuli. We then describe the design of a proof-of-concept system that considers the particular issue of haptic feedback for the handlebars of a motorcycle-riding simulator. We will use this system in further experiments to demonstrate the impact of the coherence or mismatch of those two aspects on controllability and simulator sickness occurrence.