Master's Capstone Project with Renault - UC Berkeley
Haptic surface for autonomous vehicle immersive experience
Goal
The project initially aimed at exploring concepts for emerging HMI in the era of autonomous transportation. After extensive human centered design research, the concept of a 'haptic surface' was selected to be further studied and developed. Such surface, embedded on the arm-rests of a car seat, would complement a visual and audio system to create an immersive experience that the user would trigger during the autonomous phase of a commute.
Role & contribution
Chief Mechanical Engineer (team of three)
-
Concept development
-
Mechanical design and fabrication
-
Electronics circuit design and fabrication
Outcome
Successfully built a functional prototype of the haptic surface featuring 84 independently actuated pins, integrated to a car seat.
The concept and prototype were enthusiastically received by an audience of 20+ persons during the presentation of the project. The outcome of the work has been transferred to the industry sponsor, for a continuation internally. A team of students has been assembled by the academic sponsor to pursue the project over the summer.
Haptic surface
Learnings
Technical
-
Product design for medium-volume prototype fabrication (fourteen identical layers)
-
Design of a scalable technical solution (one layer linearly replicated numerous times to form the final assembly)
-
Sheet metal frame design and fabrication, including custom tooling
-
Design for assembly
-
Linear actuator integration
-
PCB design and fabrication. Wire management for high number of electronics component. Dissociation control and power circuitry.
Project management and design methodologies:
-
Human Centered Design methodologies: pain-point and user-needs discovery through extensive user testing
-
Team management
-
Product pitching and marketing plan
PCB design and fabrication. Wire management for high number of electronics component. Dissociation control and power circuitry.
Sheet metal frame design and fabrication, including custom tooling.
