Low-Profile Robotic Platform With Grounding Chassis Load Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional vehicle testing platforms are inadequate for evaluating advanced automotive features such as advanced driver systems, autonomous driving systems, and partially autonomous driving systems, as they lack the capability to effectively measure, score, or compare these features.
Innovation Solution
An automated robotic platform with a low-profile, over-runnable design that includes a chassis with drive and pivoting wheels, a control system, and optional features like soft targets, vision systems, and mechanical fuses, allowing it to simulate real-world driving scenarios and interact with test vehicles while distributing heavy loads across the chassis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional vehicle testing platforms are used, then basic vehicle performance testing can be conducted, but they cannot effectively measure or evaluate advanced driver systems and autonomous driving features
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic platform employs dynamic control systems that enable it to adapt its behavior and response characteristics during testing. The platform can dynamically adjust its driving patterns, reaction times, and operational parameters to simulate various driving scenarios and evaluate advanced driver systems under diverse conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The testing platform incorporates feedback mechanisms that allow it to receive data from sensors, cameras, and other detection devices, process this information, and adjust its operations accordingly. This enables the platform to evaluate autonomous driving systems through iterative testing cycles where performance data is fed back into the system for analysis and improvement.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the platform is designed with a low-profile chassis to allow vehicles to run over it, then it can simulate real-world scenarios and test vehicle-robot interactions, but the chassis must withstand extreme loads without damage
Solution Approach 1:
The chassis incorporates cushioning elements and energy-absorbing structures designed to mitigate the impact of vehicles running over the platform. These pre-installed protective features distribute and absorb impact forces, preventing damage to critical electronic components and structural elements before the full force is transmitted through the chassis.
Solution Approach 2:
The chassis is constructed using composite materials that combine high strength-to-weight ratios with impact resistance. These composite structures provide the necessary load-bearing capacity to withstand extreme loads from vehicles while maintaining the low-profile design required for realistic scenario simulation.
3Measurement precision
If the platform includes advanced sensors and vision systems for detecting and measuring autonomous driving features, then measurement precision improves, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sensing and detection system is divided into multiple independent modules, each responsible for specific detection functions such as obstacle detection, lane recognition, or vehicle-to-vehicle communication. This segmentation allows for targeted optimization of each sensor type, improved fault isolation, and flexible configuration based on specific testing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform employs multi-functional sensors and detection devices that can perform multiple measurement tasks simultaneously. For example, camera systems can detect both lane markings and obstacles, while radar systems can measure both distance and velocity, reducing the total number of components needed while maintaining high measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are robotic platforms and associated features that may have applicability in a wide variety of applications and industries, but that may have particular applicability in automotive testing and testing of vehicles having autonomous or semi-autonomous driving features. Robotic platforms may include a low-profile chassis, one or more rotational elements coupled to one or more drive motors and supported within the chassis, and a control system coupled to and controlling the drive motor(s). Also disclosed are suspension systems that may maintain the chassis of a robotic platform above the ground in use but that allows the chassis to ground out when subject to a pre-determined load, thereby spreading the load across the chassis.