Retractable Wheel Robot Aisle Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current service carts in aircraft aisles disrupt passenger service and access to lavatories as flight attendants must frequently move and stop to allow passengers to pass, causing interruptions and blocking access.
Innovation Solution
A robotic system with sensors, wheels, and a motor that navigates autonomously, detects approaching passengers, and retracts its wheels to allow passengers to step over it, enabling continuous service and unobstructed aisle access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a service cart is used to deliver items to passengers, then service delivery is enabled, but the cart blocks the aisle and interrupts passenger passage
Solution Approach 1:
The service cart is transformed into a dynamic system with retractable wheels that can extend and retract based on operational needs. When passengers need to pass, the wheels retract into the housing, allowing the cart to be stepped over. When delivering service, the wheels extend to provide stable support. This dynamic transformation resolves the contradiction between blocking the aisle and providing service delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The cart's support function is segmented from its body. The wheels are separable components that can be independently controlled to extend or retract. This segmentation allows the main housing to remain stationary and stable while the wheels provide temporary support during delivery, then retract to clear the aisle for passenger passage.
2Productivity
If flight attendants manually move the service cart, then service items can be delivered, but frequent movement interrupts service and increases time loss
Solution Approach 1:
The service cart is equipped with autonomous navigation capabilities including sensors, processors, and motors that enable it to move itself without human intervention. The cart can autonomously navigate to passengers, deliver service items, and return to its starting position. This self-service capability eliminates the need for flight attendants to repeatedly move the cart, reducing service interruptions and time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical system of flight attendants physically moving the cart is replaced with an automated electromechanical system. Sensors detect passenger locations and obstacles, processors determine optimal paths, and motors execute movement. This substitution eliminates the labor-intensive manual operation and reduces service interruption time.
3Productivity
If the service cart remains stationary in the aisle, then service delivery is efficient, but passenger access to lavatories is blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The cart transitions from a static blocking object to a dynamic adaptive system. The retractable wheels allow the cart to adapt its physical configuration based on real-time needs - extending wheels for stable service delivery, retracting wheels to clear the aisle for passenger passage to lavatories. This dynamic adaptability resolves the contradiction between service efficiency and aisle accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The cart's physical parameters are changed dynamically - specifically the extension state of the wheels. By changing the wheel extension parameter from extended to retracted, the cart transforms from a blocking obstacle to a passable object, allowing passengers to step over it while maintaining service delivery capability when wheels are extended.
Data Source
AI summary
An example robotic system includes (a) a housing having a first surface, (b) one or more sensors coupled to the housing, (c) a first wheel and a second wheel coupled to and extending away from the housing, (d) a motor configured to drive at least one of the first wheel and the second wheel, and (e) data storage including program instructions stored thereon that when executed by one or more processors of the robotic system while operating in an environment, cause the robotic system to perform operations comprising: (i) controlling the motor to cause the robotic system to navigate on a surface within the environment based, (ii) detecting, using the one or more sensors, an object approaching the robotic system and responsively controlling the motor to cause the robotic system to cease movement, and (iii) retracting the first wheel and the second wheel into the housing.