A computer model for simulating the bicycle rider's behavior in a virtual riding system

Abstract

People are increasingly demanding to experience realistic behavior of virtual characters in computer games. In this article, we build a computer model for simulating a bicycle rider’s behavior in a virtual riding system. A method to calculate the speed of a bicycle rider is proposed to improve the reality in a virtual riding system. In this method, the property of physical energy is introduced, and the bicycle-riding speed is calculated in real time according to the relationship between the rider’s physical energy and bicycle-riding speed. Then based on the analysis of the behavior of a cyclist in a real competition, various behaviors of the virtual rider are designed and a behavior-tree for the virtual bicycle rider is constructed accordingly. On the basis of these, a virtual riding system is developed. The experiments results show that our system can simulate the behavior of a virtual bicycle rider, and thus encourage exercise on a stationary bicycle.