Driving simulator for tracked vehicles using Stewart platform manipulator

This paper deals with the works related to the development of a tracked vehicle driving simulator using Stewart platform manipulator as its motion device. The driving simulator is very much required since it is not economical to give driving lessons in large and expensive tracked vehicles. The works involved in this paper are the development of tracked vehicle dynamics, analysis of forces acting on the driver, application of the washout algorithm and human motion sensation models. Using the results from these works, appropriate motion trajectory commands for the Stewart platform manipulator can be generated using inverse kinematics approach. Visual cues can be given to the driver by generating animated scenes using computer graphics technologies.