초록 ▼

There is provided, in a preferred embodiment, a transportation vehicle for transporting an individual over ground having a surface that may be irregular. This embodiment has a support for supporting the subject. A ground-contacting module, movably attached to the support, serves to suspend the subje

There is provided, in a preferred embodiment, a transportation vehicle for transporting an individual over ground having a surface that may be irregular. This embodiment has a support for supporting the subject. A ground-contacting module, movably attached to the support, serves to suspend the subject in the support over the surface. The orientation of the ground-contacting module defines fore-aft and lateral planes intersecting one another at a vertical. The support and the ground-contacting module are components of an assembly. A motorized drive, mounted to the assembly and coupled to the ground-contacting module, causes locomotion of the assembly and the subject therewith over the surface. Finally, the embodiment has a control loop, in which the motorized drive is included, for dynamically enhancing stability in the fore-aft plane by operation of the motorized drive in collection with the ground-contacting module. The ground contacting module may be realized as a pair of ground-contacting members, laterally disposed with respect to one another. The ground-contacting members may be wheels. Alternatively, each ground-contacting member may include a cluster of wheels. In another embodiment, each ground-contacting member includes a pair of axially adjacent and rotatably mounted arcuate element pairs. Related methods are also provided.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A vehicle, for transporting a human subject over a surface that may be irregular, the vehicle comprising:(a) a support for supporting the subject;(b) a ground-contacting module, movably attached to the support, for suspending the subject in the support over the surface, t

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A vehicle, for transporting a human subject over a surface that may be irregular, the vehicle comprising:(a) a support for supporting the subject;(b) a ground-contacting module, movably attached to the support, for suspending the subject in the support over the surface, the orientation of the ground-contacting module defining fore-aft and lateral planes; the support and the ground-contacting module being components of an assembly;(c) a motorized drive, mounted to the assembly for causing locomotion of the assembly and the subject over the surface; and(d) a control loop, in which the motorized drive is included, for dynamically maintaining stability in the fore-aft plane by operation of the motorized drive so that the net torque experienced by the assembly about a point of contact with the surface, taking into account torques caused by gravity as well as by all other external forces and by the motorized drive, causes a desired acceleration,wherein the control loop performs the following steps on a cyclical basis:(1) reading state variable inputs and inputs provided by the subject;(2) checking for safety of operation based upon comparison of the state variables with specified ranges of values; and(3) performing calculations for controlling the motorized drive based on the subject-provided inputs and the state variable inputs.