Joystick controlled scrubber

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a floor maintenance vehicle for performing floor maintenance operations, which comprises a transaxle rear drive system and a powered steering system for controlling steering of a front wheel; and a joystick control system for providing integrated control of the transaxle rear drive system and the powered steering system by controlling the traverse speed of the transaxle drive with respect to the steering angle such that the sharper the steering angle the lower the maximum traverse speed. The invention incorporates a joystick control process for controlling a floor maintenance vehicle, which comprises the steps of receiving a turn signal to a steering control function from a joystick indicative of the joystick position representing an operator desired turn angle, and outputting from said steering control function a turn angle signal indicative of the operator desired turn angle; and receiving a speed signal to a traverse control function from a joystick indicative of the joystick position and an operator desired speed, and receiving from said traverse control function, communicably linked to said steering control function, the turn angle signal and outputting from said traverse control function a transaxle speed control signal based on the speed signal and the turn angle signal.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.