Traveling apparatus and method for controlling thereof

• US 20050121238A1
• Filed: 11/03/2004
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ishii, Shinji
• Granted Patent: US 7,363,993 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/65.100
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 17/08 single-wheel type with single axis
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 17/12 with driving mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 15/20 for control of the vehicle or its driving motor to achieve a desired performance, e.g. speed, torque, programmed variation of speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/16 Single-axle vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/24 Personal mobility vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/46 Wheel motors, i.e. motor connected to only one wheel
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/22 Yaw angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/423 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/34 Stabilising upright position of vehicles, e.g. of single axle vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/145 Structure borne vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 37/00 Stabilising vehicle bodies without controlling suspension arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 61/00 Motor vehicles or trailers, characterised by the arrangement or number of wheels, not otherwise provided for, e.g. four wheels in diamond pattern
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 11/007 Automatic balancing machines with single main ground engaging wheel or coaxial wheels supporting a rider
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

A traveling apparatus and a method for controlling thereof, in which an abrupt turn to make a rider fall down is prevented and stable traveling is obtained without fail, are provided.

At a step [1] whether or not a turn operation is performed by means of a barycentric position of the rider, and the barycentric position is detected at a step [2] from a load sensor. Further, a turn velocity command is generated at a step [3]. Then, the barycentric position to which the centrifugal force is added is detected at a step [4], and it is judged at a step [5] whether or not the barycentric position is close to a tire. When it is close to the tire (Yes), processing to reduce the turn velocity is performed at a step [6]. Hereupon, such computation is performed that a sensor signal ωyaw from a gyroscopic sensor is set to ωyaw←ωyaw×Gω (Gω is a value that changes in inverse proportion to the strength of the centrifugal force). When the barycentric position is not close to the tire (No), it is set to ωyaw←ωyaw at a step [7]. Furthermore, a wheel rotational velocity command is supplied at a step [8] to set tire velocity of right and left wheels to ωyaw, and a turn of a vehicle is performed at a step [9].

Claims

1. A traveling apparatus comprising:

means for driving a plurality of wheels independently and

a chassis to connect said plurality of wheels, in which means for detecting a shift of barycenter of a rider is provided to perform traveling by setting rotational velocity of said plurality of wheels respectively in accordance with information on said detected shift of the barycenter, wherein

turning is performed in accordance with the shift of said barycentric position to the right and left; and

control means for restricting the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels to a predetermined limited value by detecting that said barycentric position has come close to a position of said wheel.

2. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said plurality of wheels include two wheels whose rotational axles are disposed on a straight line, and

an element of keeping said chassis horizontal is included in the setting of the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels.

3. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

means for detecting acceleration in traveling is provided in said chassis, and

an angle of said chassis is controlled in accordance with said detected travel acceleration to ensure the stability of posture of the rider.

4. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

means for detecting velocity of said turning is provided in said chassis, and

the limited value with respect to the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels is changed in accordance with said detected turning velocity.

5. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said chassis is provided with an acceleration sensor which detects acceleration on an X-axis, on a Y-axis and on a Z-axis and with a gyroscopic sensor which detects angular velocity on a pitch axis, on a yaw axis and a roll axis, and

the acceleration and the angular velocity of said chassis at a time of traveling are detected to control the angle and the acceleration in traveling of said chassis.

6. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

a table is provided on said chassis and pressure sensors are provided respectively at four corners of the table, and

the shift of said barycentric position of the rider is detected in real time by outputs of the pressure sensors.

7. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

a barycentric vector is obtained from information on the velocity of said turning and the barycentric position, and

control is performed such that a ground-contacting point of the barycentric vector with a road surface becomes a ground-contacting point between said wheel and a road surface.

8. A method for controlling a traveling apparatus including a plurality of wheels independently driven and a chassis to connect said plurality of wheels, in which means for detecting a shift of barycenter of a rider is provided to perform traveling by setting rotational velocity of said plurality of wheels respectively in accordance with information on said detected shift of barycenter, wherein

turning is performed in accordance with the shift of said barycentric position to the right and left, and

a predetermined restriction is performed with respect to the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels by detecting that said barycentric position has come close to a position of said wheel.

9. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

said plurality of wheels include two wheels whose rotational axles are disposed on a straight line, and

an element of keeping said chassis horizontal is included in the setting of the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels.

10. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

acceleration in traveling of said chassis is detected, and

an angle of said chassis is controlled in accordance with said detected travel acceleration to ensure the stability of posture of the rider.

11. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

velocity of said turning of said chassis is detected, and

the limited value with respect to the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels is changed in accordance with said detected turning velocity.

12. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

with respect to said chassis, acceleration on each of the X-axis, the Y-axis and the Z-axis and angular velocity on each of the pitch axis, the yaw axis and the roll axis are detected to control the angle and the acceleration in traveling.

13. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

pressure at each of the four corners of the table provided on said chassis is measured and

the shift of said barycentric position of the rider is detected in real time.

14. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

a barycentric vector is obtained from information on the velocity of said turning and the barycentric position, and

control is performed such that a ground-contacting point of the barycentric vector with a road surface becomes a ground-contacting point between said wheel and a road surface.

15. A traveling apparatus comprising:

means for driving a plurality of wheels independently and

a chassis to connect said plurality of wheels, in which means for detecting a shift of barycenter of a rider is provided to perform traveling by setting rotational velocity of said plurality of wheels respectively in accordance with information on said detected shift of the barycenter, wherein

detection means for detecting acceleration in the gravitational direction is provided in said chassis; and

control means for applying a predetermined control to the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels by detecting a change of the acceleration in said gravitational direction.

16. The traveling apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

said plurality of wheels includes two wheels whose rotational axles are disposed on a straight line, and

the control of said control means includes an element of keeping said chassis horizontal in setting of the rotational velocity of said plurality of wheels.

17. The traveling apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

when a fall of said chassis is detected by detecting said acceleration in the gravitational direction, said control means performs control such that rotational torque is not applied to said plurality of wheels.

18. The traveling apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

a gyroscopic sensor for detecting angular velocity on the pitch axis is provided in said chassis;

when the fall of said chassis is detected by detecting said acceleration in the gravitational direction, said control means applies a predetermined control of torque to the rotational velocity of said plurality of wheels based on an output of said gyroscopic sensor such that said chassis has a desired angle and performs control to make said plurality of wheels rotate inversely with equivalent torque after the point of time when an angle of said chassis becomes half a target value.

19. The traveling apparatus according to claim 18, wherein

said chassis further includes detection means for detecting acceleration in the forward and backward direction and detection means for detecting a rotational angular velocity of each of said plurality of wheels, and

said control means performs control to make relative velocity of said wheel rotation to a road surface brought to be zero using said output of the gyroscopic sensor, an integrated value of said acceleration in the forward and backward direction and a detected value of the rotational angular velocity of said plurality of wheels.

20. A method for controlling a traveling apparatus including a plurality of wheels independently driven and a chassis to connect said plurality of wheels, in which means for detecting a shift of barycenter of a rider is provided to perform traveling by setting rotational velocity of said plurality of wheels respectively in accordance with information on said detected shift of the barycenter, wherein

acceleration in the gravitational direction of said chassis is detected, and

predetermined control is applied to the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels by detecting a change of the acceleration in the gravitational direction.

21. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein

said plurality of wheels includes two wheels whose rotational axles are disposed on a straight line, and

in said predetermined control, keeping said chassis horizontal is included as an element in the setting of the rotational velocity of each of said plurality of wheels.

22. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 21, wherein

when a fall of said chassis is detected by detecting said acceleration in the gravitational direction, control is performed not to apply rotational torque to said plurality of wheels.

23. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein

angular velocity of said chassis on the pitch axis is detected, and

when the fall of said chassis is detected by detecting said acceleration in the gravitational direction, a predetermined control of torque is applied to the rotational velocity of said plurality of wheels based on said detected output of the angular velocity on the pitch axis such that said chassis has a desired angle and control is performed to make said plurality of wheels rotate inversely with equivalent torque after the point of time when an angle of said chassis becomes half a target value.

24. The method for controlling the traveling apparatus according to claim 23, wherein

acceleration in the forward and backward direction is detected and rotational angular velocity of each of said plurality of wheels is detected in said chassis, and

control is performed to make relative velocity of said wheel rotation to a road surface brought into zero using said detected output of the angular velocity on the pitch axis, an integrated value of said acceleration in the forward and backward direction and a detected value of the rotational angular velocity of said plurality of wheels.