Pushcart
AssigneeMurata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
InventorKenichi Shirato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pushcart configured to perform inverted pendulum control is made likely to negotiate a step. In a first control mode, a main body is maintained to have a constant posture by performing the inverted pendulum control all the time. For example, when a user operates a selector switch, the control mode is changed to a second control mode in which offset torque is added so that an amount of torque applied to a wheel driver unit becomes larger. In this case, because the pushcart moves faster than usual, even if there exists a step that is hard to negotiate in the state of usual inverted pendulum control, the pushcart is likely to negotiate that step.
Claims20
A pushcart comprising:
- a wheel;
- a driver unit for driving the wheel;
- a controller for controlling operations of the driver unit;
- a main body configured to support the wheel in a rotatable manner;
- a holding portion provided on the main body;
- a first sensor unit for detecting an angle change or an angular velocity change in a slope angle of the main body in a pitch direction;
- and
- a step detection input unit configured to receive information of presence/absence of step detection,
- wherein the controller has a first control mode in which the operations of the driver unit are controlled so that the angle change in the slope angle of the main body in the pitch direction relative to a target value becomes 0 based on output of the first sensor unit and a second control mode in which torque applied to the driver unit is large in comparison with the first control mode, and
- the controller switches between the first control mode and the second control mode based on output of the step detection input unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.