Design Project #2

Horse Simulator

Written by:
Frederick Koo ID: 109885508
Victor Wu ID: 109869014
Kelvin Huang ID: 109996099
Group Number: 33

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, New York - 11790

12/08/2016

1
Abstract

Our objective is to design a mechanism that mimics the motion of a saddle on a moving

horse. The design will simulate being on a horse that is walking, trotting, and cantering. For the

design to be a success, the motion of a being on a horse has to be recreated with a mechanism

that is of reasonable size, and has safety as a priority. The mechanism should be tidy under the

saddle and not obstruct the rider in any way. From our design iterations, a cam design was

selected because it seemed to be the design that would best fulfill the requirements. An

accomplishment of ours was being able to design the cam in such a way that the timing of the

saddle going up and then back down is similar to that of a real horses movement. A major issue

for our design was that additional cams that were initially intended were not included because

they would interfere with the motion of the saddle due to the followers hitting the other cams.

With meticulous research and practice, we were able to mimic the motion of a moving horse.

2
 Table of Contents
1. Abstract 2

2. Table of Contents 3

3. List of Figures 4

4. Problem Statement 4

5. Design Iteration 5
I. Four Bar Linkage 5
II. Cam Design 7
III. Gear Train 8
IIII. Final Design 9

6. Design Analysis and Simulation 10

7. Discussion and Conclusion 13

8. References 15

9. Appendix 16
All Hand Drawn Sketches 16

3
List Of Figures
Figure 1: Four Bar Linkage of Walking Motion 5
Figure 2: Four Bar Linkage of Canter Motion 6
Figure 3: Draft of Cam Design for Various Motions 7
Figure 4: Gear Train Draft of Horse Motion 8
Figure 5: Final Cam Design 9
Figure 6: Final Model of Mechanism 11
Figure 7: Drawing File of Final Design 12
Figure 8: Explanation of Varying Cam Motion 14

Problem Statement

Horseback riding is a very expensive and risky hobby, so there is a need for a cheaper

and safer alternative for prospective riders. The device should simulate motions that are similar

to that of actually riding a horse, such as a horse walking, trotting, and cantering. While riding,

the user should ride without any worry of being harmed. To create a horse riding simulator,

knowledge of linkages, gear trains, cam design, and some sort of computer aided design (CAD)

software is required. To generate solutions, we analyzed the movement of the saddle on a

moving horse, and tried to mimic those movements with different mechanisms.

4
Design Iterations

Four-bar Linkage

Figure 1: Four Bar Linkage of Walking Motion

5
 Figure 2: Four Bar Linkage of Canter Motion

This design of a four bar linkage was drawn to simulate the motion of a horses saddle

moving up and down when the horse is walking. Our four bar linkage was designed using two

position graphical analysis. Unfortunately, using a four bar linkage was difficult, as we had a

hard time fitting the entire mechanism within the dimensions of a horses body. When we

managed to make the mechanism fit, our linkage was non-grashof. Due to the locations of the

fixed points, the linkages criss-cross and are in awkward positions. Using linkages to plot the

movement of a horse is restrictive, impractical, and limits the possibilities of the design. Due to

these restrictions, we decided against the four bar linkage for the mechanism of choice for our

horse saddle.

6
Cam Design

Figure 3: Draft of Cam Design for Various Motions

This is a design of a cam and follower mechanism that simulates the motion of a horses

saddle moving up and down when the horse is walking. By altering the shape of the cam, we can

control various features of the saddle motion, such as how much the saddle moves vertically and

horizontally. By making the cams out of phase, we can create a rocking motion in the saddle. We

believe that a cam design can fit entirely where a horses body would be. It is also more material

efficient than using four separate linkages.

7
Gear Train

Figure 4: Gear Train Draft of Horse Motion

To simulate the movement of a horse, we also tried to use gear trains. By using a gear

train, we can simulate the motion of a horse saddle and alter its properties by changing the gear

sizes, amount of gear teeth, and gear ratios. However, using a gear train introduces a lot of

variables and gets complicated very quickly. While the ratios are not that complicated, starting

from scratch is. The variables also build upon themselves, which can lead to errors. Another

thing to note is that the diameter of the driver gears must be greater than the proposed

displacement of the saddle. This means that for a significant displacement, the driver gear size

can be unreasonable. Gear trains are also prone to failure and slip. Overall, designing the motion

of a horse would be difficult to design using a gear train. However, if a gear train were used,

gears will be able to switch and have the horse saddle perform different motions. Calculations

would also be simple as everything is related through ratios.

8
Final Design

Figure 5: Final Cam design

From our three design trials, we decided to use a cam design to mimic the motion of a

horse saddle through walking, trotting and cantering. We chose to use a cam design over a four

bar linkage and a gear train because we believe that using a cam design would be the simplest

mechanism that does not take up too much room. Our cam design has the follower move up for a

short duration before coming back down to rest. As a horse moves forward, the rider will

occasionally bounce up and down. Through analysis of how a horse bounces up and down, we

found that it takes very little time to switch between the upper and lower position. We also

noticed that the horse would stay in the lower position for longer than the upper position. Using

this analysis, we designed the cam shape shown in the figure above.

9
Design Analysis and Simulation

The final design that we ended up selecting to make a CAD model of was our cam

design. Our cam design allows us to simulate a horse saddle going up and down while being

space efficient. When designing our CAD, we first decided to design the cam and follower since

these two components were the heart of the design. While designing the CAD model for the cam

and follower, we ran into an issue right off the bat, and that was actually being able to create the

model. We had a lot of troubles getting the shape of the cam model to the exact dimensions

needed for our design. After a few hours and many tutorials later, we were able to successfully

design our cam to the desired specifications. The next part that needed to be designed was the

saddle. The issue we ran into with the saddle was constraining the saddle to the follower, and

ensure there was only one degree of freedom in the mechanism. In order to remedy this issue, we

had to make some modifications to our initial design so that the mechanism could be constrained.

With the CAD model done, we moved onto the simulation. We successfully simulated a horse

walking, however we were unable to simulate the rocking motion that we proposed. Our plan to

simulate the rocking motion was to have two cams out of phase, but each attempt resulted in

parts flying off the screen. Ultimately, we were unable to simulate the rocking motion due to the

constraints we made on our mechanism.

10
Figure 6: Final Model of Mechanism

11
Figure 7: Drawing File of Final Design

12
Discussion and Conclusion

While working on the project, there were many different issues we encountered.

Originally we had intended for the horse saddle to simulate a rocking motion by having our cams

out of phase, however this proved to be beyond our capabilities and were unable to overcome

this issue. Another problem we ran into was figuring out how to have the horse saddle simulate

multiple motions. Our initial idea was that we would have multiple cam designs next to each

other, with each one representing a different motion. For example, we would have two cams for

walking, two for trotting and two for cantering. We discovered that the moving cams would

interfere with the motion of the saddle due to the followers hitting the stationary cams. For the

saddle with multiple cams to move correctly, the constraints on the stationary cams would have

to be modified while one set of the cams is moving. If we had more time, we would try to

develop dynamic constraints that allow our initial idea of multiple cams to work.

13
Figure 8 Explanation of Varying Cam Motion

14
 Works Cited

Greenwood, William Ronald. "Patent US20080227068 - Horse Simulator." Google Books. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

"Horseback Riding Lessons." Are Horseback Riding Lessons Expensive? N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec.

2016.

Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWueejob3pNGhbfVcQQu88Q. "Task 3.1 : Biomechanical

Simulation of Horse Gaits." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Oct. 2016. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

Lott, Jennifer. "A Mechanized Horseback Riding Simulator as an Aid to Physical Therapy."

University of South Florida Scholar Commons, 11 July 2006. Web. 8 Dec. 2016.

Racewoodltd. "The Dressage Simulator - Riding through the Gaits." YouTube. YouTube, 24

Nov. 2010. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

15
Appendix

16