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AssigneeJervis B. Webb Company
InventorsCornell W. Alofs, Ronald R. Drenth
Estimating the term…
This invention relates to a swivel caster fitted with rotational and swivel angle measurement sensors mounted to a driverless vehicle so that the lateral motion of the vehicle can be detected and accounted for by the vehicle's navigation and guidance system. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a driverless vehicle comprising a navigation and guidance system having an angular motion sensor and a track wheel caster assembly equipped with a caster pivot sensor and a wheel rotation sensor to determine the relative position of the vehicle by taking into account substantially all movement of the vehicle along the surface upon which the vehicle is travelling. These sensors enable the navigation system to more accurately determine the vehicles current position and enable the guidance system to better guide the vehicle.
A driverless vehicle comprising:
A driverless vehicle comprising:
An driverless vehicle comprising
A vehicle comprising:
A navigation and guidance system for guiding a driverless vehicle comprising:
A navigation and guidance system for guiding a driverless vehicle comprising means for sensing forward, reverse and lateral movement of said vehicle along the surface said vehicle is traversing, wherein said means comprises an angular motion sensor for sending heading change of said vehicle, said system directing movement of said vehicle responsive to information supplied from the sensing means, said means further comprising a swivel caster for sensing substantially all motion of said vehicle along the surface.
A navigation and guidance system for guiding a vehicle comprising:
A navigation and guidance system for guiding a vehicle comprising:
A method of guiding a vehicle comprising the steps of calculating
A method of guiding a vehicle comprising calculating:
A caster comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.