Guided Control of a Transporter (US20080099265A1)

2007-10-29	US2007000926606
2003-06-16	US2003000462379
1999-06-04	US1999000325976
1995-06-07	US1995000479901
1995-02-03	US1995000384705
1994-05-27	US1994000250693
1993-02-24	US1993000021789
2002-12-03	US2002000308888
2001-12-05	US2001000336601P
2002-01-10	US2002000347800P
2002-06-14	US2002000388937P

Abstract:

A method for conducting the motion of a transporter under riderless conditions. The transporter has two laterally disposed primary wheels. In accordance with the method, an input is received via a user input disposed on the transporter and a control signal corresponding to the input received is generated. Then a torque is applied to the laterally disposed wheels so as propel the transporter on the basis of at least the control signal. The control signal may correspond to either a commanded torque or to a commanded transporter velocity. The torque may include coadded terms where the terms are, respectively, proportional to the control signal, to a counteracting artificial friction proportional to the common velocity of the wheels, and a term proportional to the differential rotation of the wheels to facilitate turning of the transporter.

Attorney, Agent or Firm:

MCCORMICK, PAULDING & HUBER LLP ; 185 ASYLUM ST.CITY PLACE II , HARTFORD , CT 06103 United States of America

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Parent Case:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
    This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.10/462,379 filed on Jun. 16, 2003, herein incorporated by reference, which was a continuation-in-part application of copending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/325,976, filed Jun. 4, 1999, which is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/479,901, filed Jun. 7, 1995, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,225, which is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/384,705, filed Feb. 3, 1995, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,091, which is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/250,693, filed May 27, 1994, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,965, which in turn is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/021,789, filed Feb. 24, 1993, now abandoned, from which the present application claims priority.
    Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/462,379, filed Jun. 16, 2005 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 10/308,888, filed Dec. 3, 2002, now abandoned, and claims priority through the latter application from U.S. Ser. No. 60/336,601, filed Dec. 5, 2001, and U.S. Ser. No. 60/347,800, filed Jan. 10, 2002.
    Finally, this application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/388,937, filed Jun. 14, 2002.
    All of the aforementioned applications are also incorporated herein by reference.

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Claim

1. A transporter for transporting a load over a surface, the transporter comprising:

a. a support platform for supporting the load, the support platform characterized by a fore-aft axis, a lateral axis, and an orientation with respect to the surface, the orientation referred to as an attitude;

b. at least one ground-contacting element coupled to the support platform in such a manner as to provide locomotion of the support platform with respect to an underlying surface;

c. a motorized drive arrangement for driving the at least one ground-contacting element in such a manner as to propel the transporter in dynamically balanced operation;

d. a controller for commanding the motorized drive arrangement based at least on the attitude of the support platform; and

e. a user input for receiving a command from a user not carried by the transporter to govern operation of the motorized drive arrangement.

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