Kinesiology Professor Jae Shim is partnering with University of Maryland engineering professor Derek Paley to study how e-scooter users adapt to urban infrastructures.
The research is funded through a new Maryland Transportation Institute (MTI) Seed Grant designed to spur collaborative, interdisciplinary research across multiple colleges at the University.
E-scooters are convenient and reduce carbon emissions, but they can also cause injuries to riders and irritate pedestrians. As e-scooters are becoming increasingly popular, Shim and Paley say that data-driven analysis is needed to understand the benefits and risks of e-scooters.
Scooters aren’t necessarily safe on the street or the sidewalk, Paley explained. Both rider and pedestrian safety can be impacted by factors like the location of a rental station. Shim and Paley want to understand how to better integrate e-scooters into urban areas.
The researchers will establish an experimental space equipped with an actual scooter, create computer models, run simulations and conduct data analysis. The combined methodologies are important—a lab-based setting can provide data on biomechanics and movement control, while a simulation can help researchers understand group behaviors or responses to infrastructure.
Shim’s previous research has focused on biomechanics and motor control of human locomotion. Shim works with the Maryland Robotics Center and is the director of the University of Maryland School of Public Health Neuromechanics Research Core, which studies neural and mechanical mechanisms of human movements.