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Question Cycling Motion Sim-Has anyone done it?

Discussion in 'Forum and Website' started by Sam MAHENDRA, Jun 19, 2020.

  1. Sam MAHENDRA

    Sam MAHENDRA mahentheman

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino, Motion platform, 6DOF
    Cycling Motion Sim

    In the midst of Winter (here in Sydney now) and the lock-down, I have been spending too much time on my Racing Sim and hardly go out Cycling. Although my motion racing sim is fun and it exercises my arms a little bit, it doesn’t help me to burn much calories!

    So, an idea popped in my head. Why not build a Cycling Motion Sim?

    I searched far and wide and came across many Cycling Training games such as Zwift, Rouvy etc. They need expensive Cadence sensor etc and the software is on a monthly subscription around AU$20-30. Although with this one, I will be burning calories while pedaling there is no other motion feedback (some do have force feedback). Not only it will cost me few grands, it doesn’t give me the pleasure of building my own!

    Hence, true to the spirit of the Sim Community, I thought I will build my own Cycling Motion Sim!

    I found a reasonably priced game called “Lonely Mountains: Downhill” from Steam at AU$29.00 (outright purchase and not on monthly subscription!!). It can be played on the PC, Xbox etc, with either a Keyboard or a Joystick.

    To play the game while riding my stationary bike, I can easily detect the movements of the pedal, brake lever and the handle of the bike by wiring few reed/limit swatches and an Arduino to emulate the Keyboard (there are many YouTube videos on this). Alternatively, I can wire the corresponding buttons on the Joystick (yes, I need to hack the Joystick!) to these switches.

    For the motion simulation, I may be able to use the Joystick_GamePlugin.2.0.0.1 or program the Arduino to send some rudimentary motion data based on the movements of the pedal, brake and the handle to drive the motion motors.

    It's early days.

    So far, I have downloaded the “Lonely Mountains: Downhill” from Steam and playing it on the PC with the keyboard/Joystick. It’s a fun game to play with.

    Soon, I will start the hardware/software part of my Cycling Motion Sim and keep you guys posted.

    In the meantime, any suggestion, advise and the likes are more than welcome.
    • Like Like x 1
  2. cfischer

    cfischer Active Member Gold Contributor

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  3. Sam MAHENDRA

    Sam MAHENDRA mahentheman

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Thanks mate for your interest in this subject. I did try the Google map way of cycling, but there seems to be a very perceptible lag in the display of the google map. I suspect that it could be due to my poor internet connection here in Australia. We have a hotchpotch of internet connection employing fibre+Co-axial+the plain old copper under the current National Broad Band scheme. We were supposed to have fibre all the way to the home, but this project became a political hot potato with the change of government and has ended up using a cheaper mixed technology.
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Like Like x 1
  4. Sam MAHENDRA

    Sam MAHENDRA mahentheman

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino, Motion platform, 6DOF
    I have overcome the road block in using the exercise bike’s pedaling speed to control the car/bike driving game. In essence, a magnet attached to the exercise bike’s wheel triggers the Hall sensor. An Arduino Nano counts the pulses and converts it to RPM and thence to Servo position. The Servo is mechanically linked to a potentiometer wired to the Game wheel controller. I used the potentiometer removed from the Pedal of the PXN-VIII gaming wheel (very cheap!).

    I tested this setup with the City Car Driving and it works well. Next step is to add motion. The sketch below shows the set up.
    I will keep posting the details in due course.
    ExcerciseBikePedal2Game.jpg
    • Creative Creative x 1
  5. Sam MAHENDRA

    Sam MAHENDRA mahentheman

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino, Motion platform, 6DOF
    I am thinking loud about how I could mount the Exercise Bike on top of the motion platform. The bike's seat is already quite high around 1000 mm. My old 2DOF's motion platform with the Uni-joint is around 500 mm. At this height of 1,500 mm, it will be quite difficult to mount and dis-mount the bike. How can I make the motion platform's profile as low as possible? Do I really need a Uni-joint (250 mm high). How about supporting the motion platform with 3 motors configured for 3 DOF (no Uni-joint). Could someone please provide me a link for any low profile motion platform?
  6. Sam MAHENDRA

    Sam MAHENDRA mahentheman

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I have uploaded a video of my grandson test driving the exercise bike car racing sim. Adding motion is WIP.

    ""
    • Like Like x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  7. hideki

    hideki Active Member

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    hello Sam. There are some bicicle "things" out there. Search in youtube,
    • Funny Funny x 1
  8. Avee

    Avee Virtual Pilot

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    I actually have a tacx cycle trainer with a beamer set up in my basement. It brakes the rear wheel when going up, and actually drives the rear wheel when going down. The front fork is mounted to a sensor to give steering input to the game. I use Tacx software to do video cycling or 3d game cycling. Due to the lack Of motion, I do sometimes nearly fall off because I get so immersed, I want to lean into corners!

    It clamps the rear wheel, and has a wide bas for stability. So if I would remove the base and then make it into a pivot, it would just need one motor to make it roll.

    The problem is probably, that everything is proprietary. Either I would have to find an inroad into the telemetry from the software, or I would have to make new drivers from scratch and use some other software. So the hardware part would be easy to do, it is just the software part that seems too much to handle.
  9. ART FLY

    ART FLY Gettin' High on DIY :) Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, Arduino