784results about "Amphibious vehicles" patented technology

Devices for navigating in a fluid medium having a solid boundary include a vehicle body and a fin attached to the vehicle body. The fin is configured to oscillate relative to the body such that interaction between the fin and the fluid medium produces propulsive forces that propel the vehicle body in a desired direction in the fluid medium. The fin is also configured to rotate relative to the body along a transverse axis such that engagement between the fin and the solid boundary propels the vehicle body in a desired direction on the solid boundary.

A multi-modal vehicle (“MMV”) 20a-20d. The MMV 20a-20d includes a fuselage 22 and a chassis 26 supporting at least three wheels 44 having deployed and stowed states. Extending away from the fuselage 22 is a canard wing system 28 and a main wing system 30. The main wing system 30 includes an inboard portion 134 and an outboard portion 132. The inboard portion 134 is pivotally connected to the fuselage 22; the outboard portion 132 is pivotally connected to the inboard portion 134. The MMV 20a-20d further includes a vertical thrust system 32 comprising a pair of ducted fans 100 that are incorporated into the fuselage 22, and a dual-use thrust system 34 that is configured to transition between a first position for supplying vertical thrust and a second position for supplying a horizontal thrust. A controller 42 is configured to control the MMV operations, reconfigurations, or transitions.

An amphibious vehicle for traversing a body of water or solid terrain such as a layer of ice floating atop the body of water. The vehicle includes a floatable boat hull having an elongate aperture there-through, and a snowmobile for traveling over the solid terrain received in the opening and sealed to the hull in water impervious relation. The snowmobile includes an endless drive track for supporting the hull in spaced relation with solid terrain being traversed and for rearwardly propelling water in the body of water to forwardly propel the vehicle over solid terrain or through the water, and a pair of skis which support the front of the hull in spaced relation with the solid terrain being traversed and include upturned forward ends mounting upstanding rudders for steering the boat hull as the vehicle traverses a body of water. The hull includes upwardly extending, downwardly opening pockets for receiving the front upturned ends of the skis and stabilizing arms which are coupled between the frame and the skis. Upwardly inclined guides are provided on the underside of the hull for upwardly guiding the skis out of the water onto the ice floating on the water as the vehicle exits the water and moves onto the ice.

An amphibious recreational vehicle (motorhome, trailer, SUV, and the like) of conventional RV height, width, and length restricted dimensions necessary to travel on highways and roads, and which upon entering the water, the bottom of the vehicle expands outwardly and upwardly to form a fast planing, wide-beam, ground effects cathedral type double-tunnel hull. The hull makes use of a dynamic air cushion to augment the planing of the hulls, owing to the ground effect created by compression of the ram air stream (and water vapor) rushing through the two tapered tunnels separating the three hulls. The wheels of the vehicle are simultaneously raised out of the water to eliminate parasite drag. The resultant hull is substantially wider than the cabin, providing substantial ocean-going stability for the craft. The folded elements incorporated within the cabin rooftop, raise upward to form a traditional yacht flying bridge, complete with a windshield, steering station, seating, mast, and safety rails. The resultant watercraft closely approximates the off-shore speed, seaworthiness, performance, stability, cabin space, main deck space, and elevated flying bridge deck attributes of conventional yachts. And when on land, the craft is a fully functioning traditional recreational vehicle suited for fast highway travel, driving about towns, staying in RV parks, and camping in the wilderness. This amphibious recreational vehicle is an interrelated component divided from the inventor's previous Comprehensive Vehicle Construction And Hybrid Electric Drive System application.

The invention relates to a robot mechanism, in particular to an amphibious snake-like robot which comprises a plurality of modules; all the modules can be connected in a relative rotating way; one of every two adjacent modules can horizontal deflect and pronely swing relative to the other. The robot not only can move on the land but also can move in water, and is not restricted by environmental factors; in the land environment, the robot can realize stable movement when landing on single wing or double wings; when in water, the robot can move no matter the wings are in any directions; each module is provided with three freedom degrees, and can move flexibly; waterproof protective covers are arranged among the modules, so that the sealing performance is good and water does not enter the modules; and a reverse plate is fixedly connected with a connecting plate through a step-type cone structure, thereby realizing the freedom degree that the reverse plate can rotate around the center.

Vehicle suspension having a control arm pivotally mounted to vehicle body. Wheel support is pivotally mounted to the control arm. A hydraulic strut is pivotally mounted to body at trunnion mount. The wheel may be protracted to be placed vertically on the road surface or retracted at an angle, for example to allow good marine performance in an amphibious vehicle. Strut may be extended or retracted by hydraulic fluid pumped through ports and may also be used for wheel springing and damping. As trunnion mount is part way up the strut, the strut can pivot out of the way of the retracing wheel. A second control arm may also be fitted; this may be part of a double wishbone wheel suspension.

The invention discloses an amphibious robot with a transformable structure. According to the amphibious robot, a six-foot transformable structure is adopted, so that the movement mode of the robot is flexible and variable, the functions of wheeled quick movement, bionic crawling movement and water surface navigation movement are achieved, and the three kinds of functions are respectively applicable to flat pavement, rugged pavement and water surface navigation conditions; the environmental adaptability of the amphibious robot is strong, smooth transition in water and land environments is realized, the requirements of the robot on multi-movement-mode continuous transformation for land movement and water surface movement in an amphibious environment are met, and the rapidity and coordination of movement of the robot are guaranteed; the amphibious robot adopts an embedded propeller wheel, so that the problem of power conversion of the robot in a land-to-water-surface switching process is solved, propeller blades can be effectively protected in land movement, power can be provided for water movement of the robot, the additionally arranging of additional underwater propulsion equipment is avoided, and sustained and stable work in water and land transformation media is realized.

An amphibious vehicle achieves a stable ride, maneuverability, and high speed. The vehicle includes a hull having a “V” center portion with outboard sponsons. The sponsons reside between the front wheel wells and the rear wheels wells for improving lift and transition to planing. Shallow tunnels begin in rear portions of the front wheel wells and taper into the sponsons to release water trapped in the wheel wells. Inward facing turning edges also reside between the front and rear wheel wells and improve in-water handling. Wheels are retractable by pneumatic cylinders in parallel with air shock absorbers and suspension cutout in the hull allow the suspension to lower through the hull. Flaps reside under suspension members and rise to cover the suspension cutouts when the wheels are retractable when the wheels are raised to reduce drag. A Morse cable couple a rack and pinion unit to a jet drive.

Various embodiments of reduced-size vehicles such as all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and utility vehicles (UVs) are disclosed herein. In at least some embodiments, the vehicles include frames that are wider near the front and rear sections of the vehicles than within the mid-sections of the vehicles. This, in combination with the use of shock-absorbers that are substantially vertically oriented, allows for the opening-up of large interior cavities within the front and rear sections of the vehicles within which can be positioned large front and rear internal compartments that can provide storage/carrying capacity as well as added buoyancy for the vehicle, among other things. Also, in at least some embodiments, the vehicles can include special cooling and/or exhaust systems having components that are positioned substantially within the mid-sections of the vehicles, thus further increasing the amounts of space available for the cavities/compartments within the front and rear sections of the vehicles.

The invention provides a multimodal amphibious bio-robot, which comprises a head, a replaceable wheel paddle/flipper mechanism, a propelling unit and a caudal peduncle compound drive mechanism. In water, the propelling unit and the caudal peduncle compound drive mechanism oscillate back and forth to propel by imitating a fish in the plane, and a rotating mechanism rotates the propelling unit and the caudal peduncle compound drive mechanism for 90 degrees, and switches the moving mode of propelling by imitating a fish into that of swimming by imitating a dolphin; and the flipper mechanism assists the tail propelling to accomplish actions of moving forward, moving backward, turning and pitching, and the paddle mechanism assists the robot turning. On land, the flipper mechanism rotates continuously to make the robot creep on the ground, imitates the movement of a wheel mechanism when rotating continuously, thereby the robot improves the speed of the movement, has obstacle-climbing capability, and a driven wheel reduces the resistance of the movement on the land. The robot can induce the own environment in real time by two liquid level sensors arranged at the head and the propelling unit respectively; and when the land and water environments are changed, according to the information of the liquid level sensors, a main control panel uses corresponding movement policies to accomplish the intelligent switching between the modes of moving on the land and in the water.

A hydraulic suspension strut (30) has a first on-off valve (58) connecting the first and second chambers (42 and 44), and a second on-off valve (62) connected to chamber (42) only. Suspension arm (3) of wheel (1) can be retracted beyond normal road travel, or protracted to road travel mode, by use of pump (9) and valves (58 and 62). The space in the strut above port (56) may be used as a hydraulic bump stop. An accumulator (50) may be included, as a hydraulic spring. Alternatively, strut (70) (FIG. 6; note alternative accumulator position) allows suspension to be raised above normal road travel. Strut (100) (FIG. 8) may be operated in roadgoing, raised, or retracted mode. These struts may be applied to reconfigurable suspensions; particularly for amphibious vehicles, which may require wheels to be withdrawn above the hull water line to reduce drag on water, particularly during cornering.

An all-terrain vehicle equipped for quick exchange of its functional components and aid units includes a frame having a mounting platform which includes a plurality of spatially positioned open surfaces, a functional unit having a quick release connector adapted to connect to the functional unit to a first part of the mounting platform, and wherein the frame is made of a polymer-matrix and metal-matrix composite.

The invention adopts a large-diameter main culvert coaxial counter-rotating dual-rotor or a fan body to bear the main hoisting force, wherein multiple small-diameter auxiliary culvert rotors or fans are horizontally and symmetrically arranged at the periphery of the dual-rotor or the fan body; connecting arms of the rotors or fans can stretch and contract, twist and swing to carry out four degree-of-freedom actions, bear the auxiliary hoisting force, carry out direction control and serve as vertex prevention rings; a main side spout and a plasma energy wave generator vertex prevention ring are arranged on a main culvert; and a variable inertia system is arranged on the main rotors to realize the ability of preventing turbulent flow from changing into twisting wind. The slurry and flood current overhead-hoisting rescue method is competent for the overhead-hoisting rescue mission and can be combined with the slurry and flood current overhead-hoisting rescue amphibious medical ambulance to constitute a special overhead-hoisting rescue amphibious vehicle. Slurry current propellers such as an extension-type swing conical-head spiral front wing long roller floating type or gyro helix front wing floating head type, a crushing roller front wing floating type and a herringbone one-sided jagged-grain hub telescopic front wing crushing roller tire boosters are arranged at the four corners of a machine frame of the amphibious medical ambulance, so that the amphibious medical ambulance has the capability of floating and driving in the slurry current, and the design method of the slurry flood current special rescue method and the amphibious medical ambulance is solved.

The invention discloses an air-ground amphibious vehicle. The air-ground amphibious vehicle comprises a vehicle body base body, a power mechanism, a transmission mechanism and a drive assembly. The power of the power mechanism drives the drive assembly through transmission of the transmission mechanism. The drive assembly is arranged on the vehicle body base body in a transformation mode to overcome the air resistance and the gravity of the vehicle body base body so that the vehicle can fly in air or overcome the ground friction so that the vehicle can be driven on the road surface. The air-ground amphibious vehicle has the advantages that a flying propeller and a driving assembly are combined into a transformable wheel wing assembly, during road surface driving, power drives the power driving assembly to move at a low speed; during flying in the air, the wheel wing assembly is transformed through a steering engine, the rotating plane of the flying propeller is located in a horizontal plane, power is transmitted to the flying propeller through the transmission mechanism so that the flying propeller can rotate at a high speed to provide lift force.

A control system for a robotic device maneuverable in at least a liquid medium, the system having at least one visual sensor retrieving an image of the device's environment, an image analyzing module receiving the image, determining a presence of an object of a given type therein and analyzing at least one property of the object, a motion calculator determining a desired motion of the device based on the property, and a controller operating a propulsion system of the device to obtain the desired motion. Also, a legged robotic device having a control system including at least one sensor providing data about an environment of the device, the control system using sensor data to determine a desired motion of the device, determining a corresponding required leg motion of each of the legs to produce the desired motion and actuating the legs in accordance with the corresponding required leg motion.

The invention discloses a wheel storing device of amphibious vehicles which belongs to the field of the storing devices of vehicle wheels. The device is an independent suspension fork with double cross arms and comprises a wheel assembly (1), an external universal driving assembly (2), a master pin (3), a first spherical hinge (4), an upper cross arm (5), a vehicle frame (6), an oscillating damper (7), a coil spring (8), sliding blocks (9), a connecting rod of a sliding block (10), a guide rail (11), a piston rod (12), a hydraulic cylinder (13), a crank connecting rod (14), braces (15), a compensating gear (16), an internal universal driving assembly (17), a driving shaft (18), a transverse stabilizer rod (19), a lower cross arm (20) and an upright post of the stabilizer rod (21). Compared with the prior art, the device has small occupying area, simple structure and flexible reaction, and is applicable to the amphibious vehicle wheels which can be used both in water and in land.

The invention discloses a wheel-propeller-leg integrated amphibious robot and a control method thereof. The robot mainly consists of umbrella wheel-propeller-legs, a chassis, water chambers, driving modules, a control module and a sensor, wherein the umbrella wheel-propeller-legs comprise propeller legs, power output shafts and connecting rods which are hinged to each other to form a three-link mechanism, and the shapes of the wheel-propeller-legs are adjusted by controlling the extension and contraction of the connecting rods made of shape memory alloy to adapt to different environments and obstacles; the four water chambers are symmetrically arranged, and the mass and the centre-of-gravity position of the robot are changed by independently controlling water filling and draining of the water chambers so as to control the robot to realize diving, floating and attitude adjustment. The wheel-propeller-leg integrated amphibious robot disclosed by the invention is high in environmental adaptability, has multiple operation modes of crawling on land, snorkeling in water and crawling underwater, and can be widely used for detection of complex environment on the water side.

The invention discloses an amphibious bionic turtle robot, which has two leg module unites with the same structure and 16 independent controllable joints, can move both on land and underwater through redundant actuation and has high environmental adaptability. In the on-land gait of the robot, hip joints, pitch joints and knee joints serve as actuation joints, and rotating joints are redundant; while in the underwater gait of the robot, the hip joints, the pitch joints and the rotating joints serve as the actuation joints, and the knee joints are redundant. The robot is also equipped with a buoyancy adjusting mechanism which can control the vehicle to float up and dive in water freely. The dynamic system and control system of the robot system are arranged in a sealed cabin of the vehicle body to be protected, and the waterproof sealing of key parts is realized by using a method of oil immersed sealing or sealing adhesive application at joints. The robot has the advantages of rich motion modes, high carrying capacity, large joint rotation angle, high mobility, high flexibility and the like. In different environments, every specific motion mode has high motion efficiency, so the robot can adapt to various medium environments.

Amphibious vehicle needs less power on land than on water. A control system is provided to limit power and/or speed on land, using: restriction of flow of fuel, air, or exhaust gases; heated intake air; exhaust gas recirculation; declutching of a supercharger; bypassing of a turbocharger; a variable throttle stop, dual throttles, or a switchable throttle damper; cylinder or intake valve deactivation; a dual length intake manifold; dual mode ignition or engine mapping; dual fuel—gasoline on water, compressed natural gas on road; variable compression ratios or valve timing; a clutch designed to slip; automatic brake application; or aerodynamic brakes. The suspension may tilt the vehicle to increase aerodynamic resistance. The road transmission may be geared to limit maximum speed. High rolling resistance tires or twin engines may be used. A sensor on retractable suspension may indicate whether the vehicle is on land or on water.

The invention relates to the technical field of a robot, and aims at providing a duck web imitating climbing and swimming type propelling robot. The robot needs to have the characteristics of high maneuverability and capability of meeting propelling requirements in two environments including a water environment and a land environment. The duck web imitating climbing and swimming type propelling robot has the technical scheme that the duck web imitating climbing and swimming type propelling robot is characterized by comprising a machine frame, a control module, a power supply, two motors, fourKlann connecting rod mechanisms, gear mechanisms and webs, wherein the control module, the power supply and the two motors are arranged in the machine frame; the four Klann connecting rod mechanisms are arranged on the periphery of the machine frame; the gear mechanisms are used for transmitting the motor power to drive the Klann connecting rod mechanisms to move; the webs are arranged on the Klann connecting rod mechanisms; the two motors are arranged at the left side and the right side of the machine frame; each motor drives the two (front and back) Klann connecting rod mechanisms to move atthe same time through one gear mechanism; each gear mechanism comprises a driving gear and two driven gears; the driving gear is fixed to an output shaft of the motor; and the driven gears are engaged with the driving gear and are used for driving the two (front and back) Klann connecting rod mechanisms.

A decoupler for coupling/decoupling drive between a power train output and road wheels or marine drive means in an amphibious vehicle, is integrated with a constant velocity joint, saving space, weight, and cost for low production volumes, and simplifying mounting arrangements. Power train output shaft enters casing through aperture, and terminates in a flange with splines. Baulk ring and synchrocone provide synchromesh action between drive ring and driven CV joint cap. Rod is attached to selector arm, located in slot, allowing coupling and decoupling by an external control, which may be assisted by a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder. The synchromesh parts may be sourced from truck gearboxes. CV joint is mounted in bearings, and may be a Rzeppa type. Groove allows fitment of a conventional dust gaiter.

A mechanism is provided by which the wheels of an amphibious vehicle are simultaneously retracted or protracted for switching between a land mode and a marine mode of operation. Each of a transversely spaced pair of wheels is supported by a horizontally arranged spring and damper combination acting on at least one suspension link. Each spring and damper combination is in turn supported by a movable anchor point, the position of which determines the extent of protraction or retraction of the associated wheel. The anchor points for the two wheels may be located at opposite ends of a rotatable rocker member, the rotational orientation of which is determined by an actuator taking the form of for example a hydraulic ram or electric motor.

The invention discloses a novel crawler-type amphibious mowing salvage ship which comprises a hull, a crawler drive mechanism, a propeller drive mechanism, a collection and storage mechanism and a control room, wherein the crawler drive mechanism, the propeller drive mechanism and the collection and storage mechanism are arranged on the hull, the control room is arranged at the stern, and the hull is of a dual-floating-body connecting bridge structure formed by two floating bodies and a deck in a lap joint mode. The novel crawler-type amphibious mowing salvage ship is provided with a dual-power system, can achieve two drive modes of propeller propelling and crawler walking, can collect floating refuse and cut and collect float grass, water hyacinths and other aquatic plants in deepwater riverways, and can also carry out operation in shallow water areas and wetlands.

The invention discloses an amphibious multi-legged robot with metamorphic mechanical legs. The robot comprises a body and at least two metamorphic mechanical legs parallelly arranged on both sides of the body. Each metamorphic mechanical leg comprises a base in transmission matching with a power component, and an elastic leg body connected with the base, and the initial form of each elastic leg body is straight; each metamorphic mechanical leg also comprises a metamorphic driving mechanism used for making the corresponding elastic leg body to be metamorphosed to form an arc-shaped form; the mechanical legs can automatically perform free switching between the straight form and the arc-shaped form, thus manual intervention required when the robot employing the mechanical leg conducts switching in the amphibious operation mode is avoided, the elastic leg bodies are straight under the natural initial state, the elastic leg bodies are driven by the metamorphic driving mechanism to be switched into the arc-shaped form when needed, rapid switching can be realized, and convenience and rapidness are realized; the legs do not need to be changed manually when the robot conducts switching in the amphibious mode, thereby being more convenient, furthermore, the metamorphic driving mechanisms can improve the structure strength of the elastic leg bodies, and thus the land obstacle ability is improved.

An assembly for armoring an amphibious vehicle against projectile penetrations, the amphibious vehicle having a hull, the assembly including a rigid spall generating sheet, the rigid spall generating sheet having a thickness and an outer surface; a buoyant sheet fixedly attached to and extending inwardly from the rigid spall generating sheet; and a multiplicity of fasteners interconnecting the rigid and buoyant sheets with the amphibious vehicle's hull, the buoyant sheet incorporating a low density, nonabsorbent hardened foam material; the buoyant sheet functioning for vehicle buoyancy enhancement and for defining a spall dispersal space overlying the hull and underlying the rigid spall generating sheet.

A multi-terrain amphibious vehicle for travel across various types of surfaces and upon various bodies of water. The vehicle has an elongated longitudinally extending chassis having a bottom surface having a centerline. A plurality of left side propulsion units and a plurality of right side propulsion units extend inwardly toward the centerline and they are supported by the chassis. A vehicle body having a passenger compartment is mounted on the chassis. A source of drive power is mounted on the chassis. Power transmission structure connects the drive power structure to the driven axles of the respective left and right side propulsion units. The propulsion units each have a plurality of cam-shaped wheels mounted on each driven axle. The cam-shaped wheels are oriented on the driven axle so that there will always be an arcuate perimeter segment of one of the cam-shaped wheels positioned to contact the ground surface during each 360 degree rotation of the driven shaft.

The invention discloses a rolling, flowing mixed multi-field submersible based on an internal driving principle. The submersible comprises an outer spherical shell, a propelling device, an inner spherical shell, a rolling power device, a buoyancy adjusting device and a driving steering device. The inner spherical shell is rotatably arranged in the outer spherical shell around the first shaft direction of the outer spherical shell; the rolling power device is arranged in the inner spherical shell and can rotate around the second shaft to generate an eccentric torque, so that the submersible moves forward or backward; both the buoyancy adjusting device and the steering device are mounted in a space between the outer spherical shell and the inner spherical shell, the buoyancy adjusting device can enable the submersible to sink or float up in a water body, and the steering device can drive the inner spherical shell to rotate relative to the outer spherical shell; the first shaft is vertical to the second shaft. The submersible disclosed by the invention has the beneficial effects that the submersible not only can flow in the water body and move in the bottom of the water body, but also can move on a land so as to realize an ability of cross-medium movement. In addition, the submersible can be also simply arranged and recovered.

The invention relates to a moving method for a hybrid-driven jellyfish-simulating amphibious robot and belongs to the technical field of a bionic hybrid-moving robot. The robot is composed of a driving mechanism (3), a transmission mechanism (2), a shell (1) and an elastic leg (4). The moving method comprises the steps of performing diving and floating motion; performing veering motion; controlling the speed; and walking underwater or on the land. According to the moving method, the motion modes are various, and the whole structure is stable and is difficult to turn on one side during the whole moving process.

A robotic system having a movable gantry robot (10) for conducting construction operations. The gantry may have an expandable bridge (20) and articulated gantry support legs (34) as well as a support track system (60) holding a gantry robot (800) which may hold one or more implements and peripheral devices (806). The device can be moved by propulsion mechanisms, a controller, and one or more geo-positioned control devices to provide position information for the robotic gantry as it moves back and forth along a plurality of work sites (700). The robotic gantry is connected to a power supply system (236). The controller is automated, self-navigating, and activates, deactivates, and/or changes the operation of the propulsion mechanisms, and deploys, retracts, activates, deactivates, and/or changes the operation of one or more of the construction implements. The height of the frame may be adjusted by extending and rotating risers and booms to accommodate different building heights or sub-level heights at a worksite. A conveyor system is optimized for removing dirt from or delivering material to the robotic arm. This invention can be applied to automating construction jobs including surveying, land preparation, excavation, foundation, masonry, framing, and additive fabrication.

The invention provides a novel spherical amphibious robot. The novel spherical amphibious robot is characterized by comprising an upper part and a lower part; the upper half part comprises a hemispherical shell and a disc; the lower half part comprises at least three driving devices and a camera. A working method of the novel spherical amphibious robot includes the steps of power on, sensor judgment, motion mode selection and motion state change. The novel spherical amphibious robot has the advantages that the robot can move in land and water environments; motion of various kinds can be finished on land; the robot is good in flexibility, low in noise, high in adaptability, small in size and easy to operate.