Ergonomics

I studied ergonomics by getting six of our team drivers to feel and comment on the prototypes. It was important to get the opinions of multiple people because everyone has different sized hands and different grip styles. The steering wheel needs to be comfortable for all the drivers in order to be effective.

The first feature I tried was adding finger grooves to the rear like many handles and grips. This was immediately shot down by most of the drivers everyone held the wheel differently. The grooves that were designed for my fingers were either too small or in the wrong positions for other people. So I scrapped that.

The second feature I tried was a boss on the side from the inside of the first knuckle to the hand web. This was also problematic for some drivers that liked to roll their inner hand on the wheel in steep angle turns. So I scrapped that.

The last feature I tried was a lower boss at the bottom of the hands. This could be used to assist with high g turns so that drivers could push down on it. In addition, drivers would be able to quickly home their hands if they needed to let go of the wheel. The drivers all liked this feature, so it made in into my final design.