A Laboratory Method to Study Rider Control of Micromobility Vehicles

Conference poster, 2025

In recent years, personal transportation has undergone significant transformations, with an increasing shift toward light, and non-polluting modes, particularly micromobility vehicles (MMVs). Among these, the electric kick scooter (e-scooter) is rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative to the bicycle. Although used in similar urban contexts as traditional bicycles, the e-scooter’s unique design introduces distinct kinematic and dynamic characteristics, largely shaped by riding posture and rider inertia. A thorough understanding of these differences is essential to improve safety.

Despite existing research exploring the uncontrolled dynamics of e-scooters, little is known about how riders actively control an e-scooter. Given that the rider accounts for 80–90% of the total system mass and is flexibly connected to the scooter, various body motions may serve as control inputs. To the authors’ knowledge, no experimental study has yet identified which body motions are predominantly used by riders to maintain stability and maneuver the e-scooters. To address this gap, we propose a novel experimental methodology that combines high-precision motion capture with an interactive virtual environment to investigate rider motion strategies under various riding tasks.