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US 2026/0273426 A1Published application
Systems and methods for controlling a radio-controlled two-wheeled vehicle
AssigneeHorizon Hobby, LLC
InventorsJohn Adams, Matthew W. Olson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A radio-controlled (RC) motorcycle is disclosed with a chassis, a rear wheel, and a steerable front wheel assembly. The motorcycle includes an attitude estimator that uses rotation and acceleration data from an IMU to estimate an inertial attitude of the motorcycle. A receiver is connected to a control processor and receives a steering input from an RC transmitter. The control processor determines a desired roll angle based at least in part on the steering input from the receiver; determines a reported roll angle from the attitude estimate; and controls a steering angle of the front wheel assembly to reduce the difference (or reduce error) between the desired roll angle and the reported roll angle.
Claims20
A radio-controlled (RC) motorcycle, comprising:
- a chassis comprising a plurality of wheels and including at least one steerable wheel assembly;
- an inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprising one or more angular rate sensors configured to output rotation data associated with rotation of the RC motorcycle about one or more axes, and one or more acceleration sensors configured to output acceleration data associated with acceleration of the RC motorcycle along one or more axes;
- an attitude estimator configured to calculate an attitude estimate of the RC motorcycle using the rotation and acceleration data from the IMU;
- a receiver;
- a brake coupled to at least one of the plurality of wheels;
- and
- a control processor electrically coupled to the receiver and configured to:
- receive a steering input from an RC transmitter and determine a target roll angle based at least in part thereon;
- receive the attitude estimate and determine a reported roll angle based thereon;
- determine a roll error between the target roll angle and the reported roll angle;
- control a steering angle of the steerable wheel assembly to reduce the roll error;
- store a pitch angle activation threshold, maximum pitch rotation rate threshold, and target pitch angle;
- determine a reported pitch angle and a reported pitch rotation rate based on the attitude estimate;
- compare the pitch angle activation threshold and maximum pitch rotation rate threshold to the reported pitch angle and the reported pitch rotation rate respectively;
- and
- when either the pitch angle activation threshold or the maximum pitch rotation rate threshold are exceeded, automatically control the RC motorcycle to avoid flipping over.
13 more elements
A control processor for an RC vehicle, configured to:
- receive angular rotation data associated with rotation of the RC vehicle about one or more axes and acceleration data associated with acceleration of the RC vehicle along one or more axes;
- calculate a roll angle estimate of the RC vehicle based on the angular rotation data and the acceleration data;
- receive steering input data from a controller associated with the RC vehicle and calculate a target roll angle based on the steering input data;
- calculate a roll error between the roll angle estimate and the target roll angle;
- and
- control a steering angle of at least one wheel of the RC vehicle to reduce the roll error;
- wherein the RC vehicle is controlled in an upright position based on the steering input data being indicative of a centered steering input on the controller.
4 more elements
A radio-controlled (RC) vehicle, comprising:
- a chassis including at least one ground-engaging wheel and at least one steerable wheel;
- an inertial measurement unit (IMU) configured to generate angular rotation data and acceleration data corresponding to motion of the RC vehicle;
- a receiver configured to receive control inputs from a remote transmitter;
- and
- a control processor electrically coupled to the IMU and the receiver, the control processor configured to:
- determine an attitude estimate of the RC vehicle based on the angular rotation data and the acceleration data;
- determine a reported roll angle and a reported pitch angle based on the attitude estimate;
- determine a target roll angle based at least in part on a steering input received via the receiver;
- determine a roll error between the target roll angle and the reported roll angle;
- generate a steering control signal to adjust a steering angle of the at least one steerable wheel to reduce the roll error;
- store a pitch angle activation threshold and a maximum pitch rotation rate threshold;
- determine a reported pitch rotation rate based on the angular rotation data;
- and
- when at least one of (i) the reported pitch angle exceeds the pitch angle activation threshold, and (ii) the reported pitch rotation rate exceeds the maximum pitch rotation rate threshold, automatically generate a stability control signal to mitigate a flip condition of the RC vehicle.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.