Showroom Motorcycle 4 DoF Motion sim

I have been making motorcycle controllers and other motorcycle racing game stuff (like kneepad rumblers and such) for some time now, and started to feel that it was time to take THE step. This was the final result:



Sat at my desk looking at a few really old RC servos and thought I should do something with them. Then my eyes landed on my wife's little scale model of her CBR 600. It was obvious what needed to happen.

I started out making a 3DOF with two servos in front and one in the back. Then I wanted more, and to simulate brake and acceleration rear wheel slide I needed at least one more. So I added one in the back, which turned it into a 4DOF.
This is what I ended up with:



Now I was at the pre-study phase, trying to figure out what options I had.
The time plan was to have something rideable before the summer of 2022.

Update 19/2-2022

Design work started in January and it looks like we will be going for a aluminum extrusion based rig. Mainly for the adjustability it will give us.
We are currently running FEM simulations on all the platform parts to make sure we optimize the weight of all moving parts.

We will probably not have space in the bottom part for a full fairing, but this is what the concept looks like at the moment:



Update 9/3-2022

Fabrication of parts have started and all the aluminum extrusion has been ordered.
Looking for fairings that will fit, right now I'm leaning towards R1 2019.

This is how the CAD looks right now:


Update 15/4-2022

Rebuilt the scale prototype a while back so the geometry would better match that on the full size version. This is a snippet of the motion dynamics right now. Can't wait to assemble and test!

Update 21/4-2022



Parts are showing up every week now! Assembly has begun.

Update 25/4-2022

Starting making the electronics plate and wiring so we can test the motors before mounting too much stuff on them they could break



Update 29/4-2022

Got everything wired up! Still have some cable management to do, but everything is connected for testing and moves like expected!
Exciting times!



Update 11/5-2022

One step closer!



Update 16/5-2022

We are now about 25 days away from our final presentation. Things are coming along good, but the fairings we ordered are still not sent. Fingers crossed!



Update 22/6-2022

Soooo, the thesis presentation went well and everything worked as intended (pretty much )!
The fairings seemed to never turn up, but an hour after the presentation I got a text saying they were ready to be picked up. Ironic.

The last few days I have spent with brackets and paint fumes. Now coming somewhat close to what I wanted to achieve. There are a few steps left, but I am super happy with it so far!

Firstly get yourself some gearmotors, something from a wheelchair should do the trick

Then build a basic spaceframe to mount the motors and handlebars to

Get it working and then make another prettier version when you have worked out all the mounting points.

A real bike frame may be a good place to start if you can find something suitable

Looks good

Been thinking of this for some time, the main reason for not working on it is the lack of VR motorcycle games...

But there also is a lot of challenges:
The bike should move according to telemetry, for example raising the front when accelerating, but how do you make a platform where your bodyweight can counter the front lifting if wanted, at the same time?

The same goes for leaning and high-siding?

Good luck, looking forward to see the progress

Hello Raredog!

GP-bikes has VR support.
It also tracks rider movement with the headset or TrackIR for example. This will move the rider CoG and in the example of the wheelie it will be calculated in-game. Same goes for other rider movements.

There are still a lot of challenges though, agreed!

Hi. Great scale test done, I am impressed.
I am thinking to make a separate top frame for moto for my 2dof rig with custom steering on arduino. 2dof will be sufficient?

I keep my fingers crossed for your project. Good luck.

I think 2dof is more that sufficient! Combined with some bass shakers it should be pretty awesome.

If you put load cells / scales under the feet of the sim you should be able to change the cog live

However - how do you update the software so the sim knows the new cog ?

Is there a way to update the cog variable in the software

In fact, simulating a motorcycle is much more difficult as the balance of the body should have a strong influence on handling. You slide backwards and lift the wheel much faster, etc. I didn't think about it before

The game calculates all this is what I’m trying to say. It takes the VR headset (or head tracker) position and calculates the position of the driver. If I lean left without touching the controls the in-game rider leans left, cog shifts and bike turns.
This will all be calculated before it reaches the motion simulator.

Of course the rider position will alway be a little off since different riders have different riding styles. Full body tracking would be necessary to do it better, hopefully we will have that in the future

can you play the game without vr ?

Yeah, I used to use my diy head tracker before I got the VR headset.
Supports triples too

how does the diy head tracker work ?

Three LEDs attached to my headset and a Ps3-Eye camera. Using OpenTrack. I also made a gyroscope one, but that drifted a bit so it wasn't really usable for longer periods.

have you done any work with eye trackers ?

Nope, haven't felt the need

Wheelchair motor market seems tricky..
Do you have an idea of what type of motor I should look for?

i used some motors from parvalux that were 400w and 25:1 gearbox

invacare is another good make

i have new project on the go that uses more powerful motors with different gear ratios dependingon how hard the motors work 30:1 40:1 and 50:1

these look pretty good value ! - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304139818925?hash=item46d02557ad:g:lWgAAOSwlBphMNqj

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324788823781?hash=item4b9eec26e5:g:spcAAOSwoN9hPf1V


if they are not powerful enough you can double them up and run 2 motors on each corner


DC brushed motors have the greatest torque at low stall speeds - this makes them perfect for sims

Uk seems like it’s flooding with wheelchair motors! I’m Swedish, and here they are a bit more scarce (and pricey to ship in from over the water).

https://www.rideapart.com/news/244950/leangp-brings-tilting-race-controllers-to-your-living-room/

Unfortunately the whole leanGP ended up a Kickstarter scam.. Shame..