Humans use Optokinetic Eye Movements to Track Waypoints for Steering.

It is well-established how visual stimuli and self-motion in laboratory conditions reliably elicit retinal-image-stabilizing compensatory eye movements (CEM). Their organization and roles in natural-task gaze strategies is much less understood: are CEM applied in active sampling of visual information in human locomotion in the wild? If so, how? And what are the implications for guidance? Here, we directly compare gaze behavior in the real world (driving a car) and a fixed base simulation steering task. A strong and quantifiable correspondence between self-rotation and CEM counter-rotation is found across a range of speeds.

A surface topography analysis of the curling stone curl mechanism.

The curling motion of the curling stone on ice is well-known: if a small clockwise rotational velocity is imposed to the stone when it is released, in addition to the linear propagation velocity, the stone will curl to the right. A similar curl to the left is obtained by counter-clockwise rotation. This effect is widely used in the game to reach spots behind the already thrown stones, and the rotation also causes the stone to propagate in a more predictable fashion.

Onset of frictional sliding of rubber-glass contact under dry and lubricated conditions.

Rubber friction is critical in many applications ranging from automotive tyres to cylinder seals. The process where a static rubber sample transitions to frictional sliding is particularly poorly understood. The experimental and simulation results in this paper show a completely different detachment process from the static situation to sliding motion under dry and lubricated conditions.

Three Three-Axis IEPE Accelerometers on the Inner Liner of a Tire for Finding the Tire-Road Friction Potential Indicators.

Direct tire-road contact friction estimation is essential for future autonomous cars and active safety systems. Friction estimation methods have been proposed earlier for driving conditions in the presence of a slip angle or slip ratio. However, the estimation of the friction from a freely-rolling tire is still an unsolved topic.

Optimal proportion of studded tyres in traffic flow to prevent polishing of an icy road.

Studded tyres can significantly wear the road surface and increase particle emissions from the road surface, which has a negative impact on air quality in urban areas. However, road wear might have a positive aspect by roughening the road surface and thus preventing polishing. As a consequence, other vehicles than the ones using studded tyres might also benefit from the usage of studded tyres.

Vehicle lateral state estimation based on measured tyre forces.

Future active safety systems need more accurate information about the state of vehicles. This article proposes a method to evaluate the lateral state of a vehicle based on measured tyre forces. The tyre forces of two tyres are estimated from optically measured tyre carcass deflections and transmitted wirelessly to the vehicle body.