Human transport system with dead reckoning facilitating docking
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsHaruhiko H. Asada, Stephen Mascaro, Joseph Spano
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hybrid personal vehicle capable of holonomic omni-directional self-locomotion. The vehicle may be programmed to navigate to a specified location in a crowded household environment. Additionally, sensors are provided for accurate docking and tight mating with fixtures such as a toilet or bed. A controller determines a docking trajectory to a specified fixture and behaves with arbitrary stiffness in each degree of freedom about a determined center of compliance.
Claims20
A vehicle for docking against a fixture, the vehicle comprising:
- a. a ground contacting assembly capable of motion in a plane, the motion being holonomic with respect to three degrees of freedom;
- b. a motor drive for propelling the ground contacting assembly in a predetermined direction;
- c. an instrumented bumper for sensing contact between the vehicle and the fixture;
- and
- d. a controller for determining a docking trajectory to the fixture, the controller being programmed to react to feedback from the instrumented bumper to control the motor drive such that the vehicle behaves with a variable specified stiffness in each degree of freedom about a determined center of compliance in such a manner as to steer the vehicle to the fixture.
A vehicle for transporting a body to a target location, comprising:
- a. a ground contacting assembly capable of holonomic motion, the ground contacting assembly comprising:
- i. at least three ball wheels;
- ii. a motor drive coupled to each ball wheel;
- and
- b. a controller for determining a trajectory to the target location, subject to topological constraints, programmed to react to feedback from an instrumented bumper, for controlling the motor drive in such a manner that the vehicle behaves with a variable specified stiffness in each degree of freedom and that the vehicle is steered to the target location in accordance with the determined trajectory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.