Heart Racer Go-Kart
The main goal of the Heart Racer Go-Kart is to enhance the driving experience of the customer riding it by stimulating their senses and encouraging their nervous system to release more adrenaline than it regularly would with another, non-modified, Go-Kart
A cage was built and attached to the vehicle to go around the driver, attached to the cage is a set of lights, in abundance, capable of changing colors and patterns, along with a set of speakers that will play music. The steering wheel of the Go-Kart was modified to hold a display, and a pulse sensor. When the driver boards the vehicle they will see the display in front of them, as well as the lights changing colors at the same pace of their heart rate. The high speeds, combined with the effect of the music and the changing light patterns, increase the release of adrenaline by the rider; ultimately leading to a better experience on the track. To be able to control all of the components in this project, a micro-controller was needed; this will be attached to the back of the display and will come together with the pulse monitor as well, the group of three will be one module.
Authors
| Daniel Franco | Steve Monroy | Andre Barrett |
| A 23-year old senior at the University of Central Florida. Daniel will be obtaining his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering in December of 2015; he currently works at Duke Energy in their Transmission Engineering,Protection and Controls department and will be pursuing a career in the same company upon his graduation. Daniel enjoys working with people and hopes to one day become a C-Level Executive at Duke Energy. | A 22-year old senior at the University of Central Florida. Steve will be obtaining his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering in May of 2016; he currently has accepted a job offer at NextEra Energy in Power Generation upon graduation. Steve enjoys staying active by participating in team activities. He is a member of the Men’s Volleyball Club Team at the University. One day he hopes to become a General Manager at NextEra Energy. | A 28-year old senior at the University of Central Florida. Andre will be obtaining his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering in May of 2016. He enjoys history and day trading. Andre hopes to someday be an entrepreneur owning a business in Engineering or Financial Investments. |
Acknowledgement
The authors of this project wish to acknowledge the financial assistance they received from Boeing and the UCF Foundation, which ultimately was a great contributing factor for the success of this prototype. It is also important to acknowledge the time and effort provided by Dr. Haralambous, Dr. Mikhael, and Dr. Lobo, the professors who served in the review board for this project. Ultimately, the group would like to thank for the time investment on behalf of Dr. Richie and Dr. Wei who served as advisers through the course of this project and greatly helped with the success of such.