I-Corps: Motion Sickness Mitigation in Vehicles

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为行驶中的车辆中的乘客开发一种减轻晕动病的技术。行驶中的车辆中的任何乘客都会受到与加速(如加速、刹车、转弯等)相关的惯性力的影响。这些惯性力会导致乘客的头部和身体摇晃，与视觉输入一起，可能会导致晕车和不适。在美国，三分之一的成年人在行驶的车辆中容易晕车。该项目的目标是验证一种新的汽车和卡车运输行业晕车缓解技术的必要性和商业潜力，该技术利用预测算法来预测移动车辆即将发生的行为及其对乘客的影响。这项i-Corps项目基于一种新技术的开发，该技术利用预测算法来预测正在移动的车辆的行为，特别是那些导致乘客不适和晕车的行为。这些预测可用于通过听觉、视觉和/或触觉刺激向乘客提供先发制人的提示，以使他们意识到即将发生的运动事件。这项研究的目的是确定这些线索的哪种组合以及先发制人的时间范围最适合为乘客提供足够的预警，以降低晕动病。初步结果表明，这种先发制人的暗示在特定条件下是有效的。该项目可能会开发和测试与汽车和卡车运输行业的这种晕动病缓解技术商业化相关的关键假设。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a motion sickness mitigation technology for passengers in moving vehicles. Any passenger in a moving vehicle is subject to inertial forces associated with accelerations (e.g., speeding up, braking, turning, etc.). These inertial forces cause the passenger’s head and body to sway, which along with visual inputs, may lead to motion sickness and discomfort. One in three adults in the US is prone to motion sickness in moving vehicles. The goal of this project is to validate the need and commercial potential of a new motion sickness mitigation technology for the automotive and trucking industries that makes use of predictive algorithms to anticipate impending actions of a moving vehicle and their impact on the passenger.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a novel technology that makes use of predictive algorithms that employ real-time and historical data to predict the actions of moving vehicles, specifically those actions that lead to passenger discomfort and motion sickness. These predictions may be used to provide preemptive cues to the passenger via auditory, visual, and/or haptic stimuli to make them aware of the impending motion events. The goal of this research is to determine which combination of these cues and what time horizon of preemption is ideally suited to provide the passenger sufficient forewarning that can lower motion sickness. Preliminary results have shown the efficacy of such preemptive cues under specific conditions. This project may enable the development and testing of key hypotheses related to commercialization of this motion sickness mitigation technology in the automotive and trucking industries.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.