Citation

Olmeda E, Del Toro SF, Garrosa M, Redondo JP, Díaz V. Sensors (Basel) 2018; 18(9): s18092797.

Affiliation

Institute for Automotive Vehicle Safety (ISVA), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avda. de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Spain. vdiaz@ing.uc3m.es.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/s18092797

PMID

30149589

Abstract

An improper decision for the design, selection and adjustment of the components needed to control a vehicle could generate negative effects and discomfort to the driver, where pedals play a very important role. The aim of the study is to provide a first approach to develop an embedded monitoring device in order to evaluate the posture of the driver, the influence of the clutch pedal and to advise about the possible risk. With that purpose in mind, a testbed was designed and two different sets of tests were carried out. The first test collected information about the volunteers who were part of the experiment, like the applied force on the clutch pedal or the body measurements. The second test was carried out to provide new insight into this matter. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that the force applied on the clutch pedal provides enough information to determine correct driver posture. For this reason, a system composed of a pedal force sensor and an acquisition/processing system can fulfil the requirements to create a healthcare system focused on driver posture.

Language: en

Keywords

clutch; driver position; ergonomics; force; health-care; low-cost sensors; vehicle