Ground robot drive system
First Claim
1. A vehicle comprising:
- a main body;
at least one flipper disposed on the main body; and
two drive systems disposed laterally to the main body, wherein each drive system comprises;
a track supported by pulleys,a front wheel disposed near a front end of the track, anda rear wheel disposed near a rear end of the track;
wherein a diameter of the front wheel and the rear wheel is larger than a height of the track, wherein the height of the track is the addition of the diameter of the pulleys and twice the thickness of the track mounted on it.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A ground robot having a main body, two opposing drive systems, a flipper disposed distal to the main body, and a front wheel and a rear wheel, both disposed substantially parallel to the vertical plane and between the inner track and the flipper. The main body has a sagittal plane and two opposing lateral sides. Each drive system having an inner track disposed proximal to the main body. The inner track extends along a corresponding lateral side of the two opposing lateral sides and substantially parallel to a vertical plane of the main body, and is supported by a plurality of inner pulleys. The flipper extending along the corresponding lateral side and substantially parallel to the vertical plane. The flipper has a flipper body, an outer track, and a plurality of outer pulleys supporting the outer track. The diameter of the front wheel and the rear wheel of each of the opposing drive systems ranges between 1.2 to 1.3 times of a diameter of the inner track.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A vehicle comprising:
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a main body; at least one flipper disposed on the main body; and two drive systems disposed laterally to the main body, wherein each drive system comprises; a track supported by pulleys, a front wheel disposed near a front end of the track, and a rear wheel disposed near a rear end of the track; wherein a diameter of the front wheel and the rear wheel is larger than a height of the track, wherein the height of the track is the addition of the diameter of the pulleys and twice the thickness of the track mounted on it. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A drive system for a vehicle, the drive system comprising:
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a track supported by pulleys; a front wheel disposed near a front end of the track; a rear wheel disposed near a front end of the track; and at least one flipper, wherein the at least one flipper comprises at least one of a flipper track supported by flipper pulleys and a wheel, wherein a diameter of the front wheel and a diameter of the rear wheel are each larger than a combined diameter of;
each of the pulleys of the track and twice a thickness of the track. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for operating a ground robot, comprising:
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instructing a ground robot, wherein the ground robot comprises tracks supported by pulleys and comprises wheels, to perform track motion using the track when the wheels do not provide enough ground traction; instructing a ground robot to perform wheel motion using; at least one front wheel that is disposed near a front end of each track, and at least one front rear wheel that is disposed near a rear end of each track, wherein a diameter of said at least one front and rear wheels is larger than the height of the tracks, and wherein the height of the tracks is the addition of the diameter of the pulleys and twice the thickness of the track mounted on it; and instructing a ground robot to perform flipper motion using at least one of said wheels and said track, with at least one rotatable flipper, wherein said at least one flipper is rotated to align with a main body of said ground robot during said track motion and said wheel motion, wherein said at least one flipper is rotated to extend from said main body during said flipper motion, and wherein said at least one flipper comprises at least one of a flipper track supported by flipper pulleys and a flipper wheel.
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Specification