Researchers from the SBEL recently presented their work at the Lunar Autonomy Mobility Pathfinder / Rover Workshop held at NASA Ames Research Center in California. The presentation highlighted a joint effort led by SBEL PhD student Json Zhou, working alongside Chris Schwarz and Christian Bauer from the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) at the University of Iowa.
Using SBEL’s open-source software framework Chrono, the team developed a simulation that allowed a human driver to operate a rover on virtual lunar terrain inside the NADS facility — the largest driving simulator in the United States. This collaboration opened new possibilities for human factors studies in future lunar missions.
The project was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), with thanks to Dr. Daniel V. McGehee, Director of the Driving Safety Research Institute, for fostering this partnership.
