Articulated Wheeled Robot Chassis With Variable Limb Splay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) face challenges in achieving a balance between mobility and endurance, payload capacity, and speed, as they either excel in one aspect while compromising on others, such as wheels providing good endurance and payload but poor mobility, or legs offering good mobility but poor endurance and speed.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid limbed and wheeled design with articulating limbs that can alter their splay, allowing the UGV to widen or narrow its base width, enabling obstacle climbing and stable off-road driving while maintaining mobility and payload capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of moving object
If conventional wheeled design is used, then endurance and payload capacity are improved, but mobility on obstacles and irregular terrain deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The chassis is divided into multiple body parts (front body part, rear body part, intermediary body part) that can rotate relative to each other, allowing the vehicle to segment its structure to adapt to different terrain requirements while maintaining overall integrity for payload capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle employs dynamic limb splay adjustment where limbs can move between narrow and wide stances, and body parts can rotate to different orientations, enabling the system to dynamically adapt between wheeled mode (for endurance) and obstacle-climbing mode (for mobility)
2Adaptability or versatility
If vehicle size is reduced to fit into tight areas, then adaptability to confined spaces is improved, but payload capacity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle dynamically adjusts its lateral width by narrowing the limb stance when entering confined spaces and widening it when payload capacity is needed, allowing the same structure to serve both compact and heavy-load requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The articulated body parts can be rotated and nested closer together to reduce the overall vehicle width for tight spaces, while maintaining the full structural capacity for payload when deployed in wider configurations
3Stability of the object's composition
If limb splay is widened to improve stability on uneven terrain, then stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stabilization function is segmented across multiple independent body parts that can rotate relative to each other, distributing the complexity across modular components rather than requiring a single complex mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The body parts serve multiple functions: they provide structural support for payload capacity, enable obstacle climbing through rotation, and stabilize the vehicle on uneven terrain through coordinated movement, reducing the need for separate specialized mechanisms
Data Source
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AI summary
A mobile platform (MP) and method for operating same. The MP comprising: a chassis which extends in a longitudinal direction from a back end to a front end and extends in lateral directions from a platform centerline to two opposing lateral sides (wherein the chassis comprises body parts configured to rotate relative to each other); limbs coupled to the chassis; and wheels connected to the limbs. Each limb is movable in a first direction towards the platform centerline and a second direction away from the platform centerline such that a stance of a front or rear pair of limbs can be selectively narrowed and widened.