Start of a new research page on bicycle steer control augmentation.

content/pages/research/bicycle-steer-control-augmentation.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+=====================================
+Bicycle Steering Control Augmentation
+=====================================
+
+:status: hidden
+:date: 2022-05-14
+:collaborators: Laura Marchal-Crespo, Riender Happee
+:current_researchers: Simonas Draukšas, Leila Alizadehsaravi
+:past_researchers: Marco Reijne, Georgios Dialynas, Dick Nieuwenhuizen, Nick Appelman
+:research_theme: Bicycle Engineering
+:template: project
+:summary-sentence: Steering a bicycle, or similar single track vehicles, is a
+                   complex motor control task. Human riders, in general, are
+                   able to balance and control a bicycle but there are
+                   scenarios where the rider fails to control the vehicle in a
+                   desired way. This line of research is focused on the
+                   possible improvements to balance and control of a bicycle by
+                   providing robotic steer control augmentation.
+:summary-image: https://objects-us-east-1.dream.io/mechmotum/handling-metric.png
+:slug: research/bicycle-steer-control-augmentation
+
+Steering is the primary and most effective control input for balancing and
+directing a bicycle along the desired path. It is possible to introduce
+acutators that manipulate the steering in conjunction with the rider. The
+acuators' behavior can be driven by sensor measurements. We are interested in
+augmenting the rider's steering behavior when the rider's own actions are
+deficient for the event at hand. For example, if the rider steers the bicycle
+such that it looses traction and the rider will likely fall an acutator can
+take over an attempt to prevent the fall. Motor control placed into or
+alongside the human-vehicle control loop can also alter the dynamics of the
+vehicle to make it easier to control. This is standard practive in aircraft.