Inverted Pendulum Vehicle Turning via Differential Wheel Speed
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional inverted pendulum type vehicles require high steering skills and are difficult to turn, especially at low velocities or when stationary, due to the need for riders to manually control the vehicle's direction by shifting their body weight.
Innovation Solution
The vehicle incorporates a second travel operation unit and actuator, along with a control unit that differentiates the travel velocities of the first and second travel operation units to facilitate turning, allowing the vehicle to pivot around a rear ground contact point, enabling easier and more intuitive direction changes by shifting body weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single travel operation unit is used for directional control, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to high steering skill requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The travel operation unit is divided into a first travel operation unit for forward/backward movement and a second travel operation unit for lateral movement. This segmentation allows independent control of different movement directions, making steering more intuitive and easier to operate without requiring high steering skills.
2Productivity
If the vehicle uses conventional single-unit travel control, then the device complexity is low, but the productivity deteriorates due to difficult turning at low velocities
Solution Approach 1:
The actuator system is segmented into a first actuator for driving forward/backward movement and a second actuator for driving lateral movement. This allows the vehicle to perform turning operations by coordinating both actuators, significantly improving turning capability at low velocities and when stationary.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit dynamically coordinates the first and second actuators to achieve different travel velocities in different directions. By controlling the velocity difference between the first travel operation unit and the second travel operation unit, the vehicle can pivot around a turn center behind the ground contact point, enabling easy turning even at low speeds.
Data Source
AI summary
An inverted pendulum type vehicle having a tiltable rider mounting section includes a first travel operation unit and a second travel operation unit, which are disposed with an interval provided therebetween in the longitudinal direction and which are capable of traveling in all directions. In a situation wherein a predetermined representative point of the vehicle or the first travel operation unit is to be moved rightward or leftward, the traveling operations of the first travel operation unit and the second travel operation unit are controlled such that the travel velocity of the first travel operation unit and the travel velocity of the second travel operation unit in the lateral direction are different from each other so as to cause the vehicle to turn about a turn center at the rear of a ground contact point of the first travel operation unit.