Haptic warnings for a motorcycle jacket and gloves

The risk of being killed on the road is much higher for riders than for car drivers. Nevertheless, the number of devices or technologies available to assist riders in avoiding risks and road accidents-or the number of Advanced Rider Assistant Systems (ARAS)-is still scarce. In this article, we present and discuss the development and application of two ARAS technologies using haptic interaction to assist riders on the road and increase their safety: an Haptic GPS Glove and a Warning Jacket. To determine the best locations for conveying haptic warnings in these wearables, we conducted a psychophysics experiment in a motorcycle simulator. We employed an up/ down staircase method and measured the absolute detection thresholds in six locations in the hand/gloves (right and left palm, back and wrist) and six locations in the jacket (right and left forearms front and back, and shoulder blades). This experiment was conducted on a motorcycle simulator that mimics the vibrations produced by a motorcyclewhile it is running at different levels of intensity. Tests on all locations were run over three conditions: (1) baseline condition, with participants seated at a table with no background vibration; and two conditions with participants seated at the simulator experiencing two levels of background vibration of (2) minimum vibration intensity, and (3) maximum vibration intensity. Overall, our results show that, in the simulator conditions, subjects were better at detecting vibrations applied to locations covered by the jacket as compared to the areas covered by hands/gloves. Specifically, the forearms and shoulder blades emerged as the most effective locations for transmitting haptic warnings to motorcyclists. For the motorcycle gloves, the back of the hand proved to be the optimal location for conveying tactile warnings. We conclude by discussing the applicability of our results in designing future ARAS.