A Robotic Driver for Emissions, Fuel Consumption and Drive-line Testing

Use of a robotic driver can be of great benefit for testing vehicles on roller dynamometers, particularly for long term tests and where a wide range of ambient temperatures are involved. Improved repeatability can also be expected.

The robotic driver developed for roller dynamometer testing is designed for manual or automatic vehicles with centre-floor gear-levers. The gear-lever and foot pedals are actuated by miniature servo-controlled hydraulic actuators to pre-taught reference positions or loads, under the control of a dedicated micro-computer.

Exploratory tests, employing the US Federal EPA Urban Driving Schedule, has shown significantly better repeatability of the speed-demand profile than that achieved by a human driver.