Apparatus and method for control of a vehicle
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A vehicle for transporting a payload over a surface, the vehicle comprising:
- a support for supporting a payload;
an enclosure for at least partially enclosing the payload;
two laterally disposed ground-contacting elements coupled to at least one of the enclosure or the support;
a drive coupled to the ground-contacting elements; and
a controller coupled to the drive, for governing the operation of the drive at least in response to position of the center of gravity of the vehicle to dynamically control balancing of the vehicle by moving the ground-contacting elements fore and aft of the vehicle.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for transporting a payload over a surface is provided. A vehicle supports a payload with a support partially enclosed by an enclosure. Two laterally disposed ground-contacting elements are coupled to at least one of the enclosure or support. A motorized drive is coupled to the ground-contacting elements. A controller coupled to the drive governs the operation of the drive at least in response to the position of the center of gravity of the vehicle to dynamically control balancing of the vehicle.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A vehicle for transporting a payload over a surface, the vehicle comprising:
-
a support for supporting a payload; an enclosure for at least partially enclosing the payload; two laterally disposed ground-contacting elements coupled to at least one of the enclosure or the support; a drive coupled to the ground-contacting elements; and a controller coupled to the drive, for governing the operation of the drive at least in response to position of the center of gravity of the vehicle to dynamically control balancing of the vehicle by moving the ground-contacting elements fore and aft of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method for transporting a payload over a surface with a vehicle, the method comprising:
-
supporting a payload with a support; at least partially enclosing the support with an enclosure; and controlling operation of a drive coupled to two laterally disposed ground-contacting elements, coupled to at least one of the enclosure or support, in response to position of the center of gravity of the vehicle to dynamically control balancing of the vehicle by moving the ground contacting elements fore and aft of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A vehicle for transporting a payload over a surface, the vehicle comprising:
-
a support for supporting a payload; an enclosure for at least partially enclosing the payload; two laterally disposed ground-contacting elements coupled to at least one of the enclosure or the support; a first drive coupled to the ground-contacting elements; a controller coupled to the first drive, for governing the operation of the first drive at least in response to position of the center of gravity of the vehicle to move the ground-contacting elements fore and aft of the vehicle to dynamically control balancing of the vehicle; and a second drive coupled to the ground-contacting elements to deliver power to the ground-contacting elements to propel the vehicle fore and aft. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method for transporting a payload over a surface with a vehicle, the method comprising:
-
supporting a payload with a support; at least partially enclosing the support with an enclosure; controlling operation of a first drive coupled to two laterally disposed ground-contacting elements, coupled to at least one of the enclosure or support, in response to position of the center of gravity of the vehicle to move the ground-contacting elements fore and aft of the vehicle to dynamically control balancing of the vehicle; and controlling operation of a second drive coupled to the two laterally disposed ground-contacting elements to deliver power to the ground-contacting elements to propel the vehicle fore and aft. - View Dependent Claims (20)
-
Specification