Dynamically stable omnidirectional personal vehicle with four driving wheels
Tasuku HOSHINO, Kai Tanaka · The Proceedings of JSME annual Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (Robomec) · 2020
This paper proposes a new kind of personal vehicle which is driven by four omnidirectional wheels and whose body is dynamically stabilized. Unlike personal vehicles with two or more wheels, the proposed vehicle can move immediately in all directions and the body is always kept upright on the road surface of variety of slopes. The most distinctive mechanical structure is that the chassis and the vehicle body is connected by a single, free universal joint. Since the body is not directly actuated, the vehicle is an unstable, underactuated system and the body attitude needs to be kept stable by appropriate feedback control. The overall mechanical structure, its kinematic and dynamic models, derivation of the controller are described. Early expermiental results request for further refinement of models or design of the controller. Safety issues and automated driving or driver assistance are under development.