BRiM: A Modular and Extensible Open-Source Framework for Creating Bicycle-Rider Models

Abstract

Despite the publication of many bicycle models, there is yet to exist a common framework for building and extending bicycle-rider models that can be easily shared between researchers. To fill this gap, we have developed BRiM, a modular and extensible open-source framework for creating Bicycle-Rider Models. It uses an established bicycle model, like the Carvallo-Whipple model, which can be extended using components from BRiM's extensive library, or user-defined custom subclasses. It leverages the open-source Python package SymPy, a computer algebra system, to compute the equations of motion. This results in symbolic equations of motion, which, after code generation, can be used to simulate and optimise the model. The effectiveness of BRiM is demonstrated by solving a trajectory tracking problem using a direct collocation algorithm.