Traveling apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10654362-B2
Application number	US-201715686658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 25, 2017
Priority date	Sep 13, 2016
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

Provided is a traveling apparatus including an adjusting mechanism configured to adjust a wheel base length between a front wheel and a rear wheel by an action of the user being transmitted, a command accept unit configured to accept a command for traveling forward or backward from the user, and a control unit configured to, while the command accept unit accepts the command for traveling forward, control a driving unit to drive the traveling apparatus to travel forward based on a forward target speed associated with the wheel base length in such a way that the greater the wheel base length, the greater the forward target speed becomes, and while the command accept unit accepts the command for traveling backward, control the driving unit to drive the traveling apparatus to travel backward based on a backward target speed associated with the wheel base length.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A traveling apparatus including at least, with respect to a traveling direction, a front wheel and a rear wheel and on which a user rides when traveling, the traveling apparatus comprising:
a front wheel supporting member configured to rotatably support the front wheel;
a rear wheel supporting member configured to rotatably support the rear wheel;
a driving unit configured to drive at least one of the front wheel and the rear wheel;
an adjusting mechanism configured to adjust a wheel base length between the front wheel and the rear wheel by changing relative positions of the front wheel supporting member and the rear wheel supporting member by the user's force of operation, wherein the user's force of operation includes changing a magnitude and/or angle of force on at least one of a handlebar or a step of the traveling apparatus thereby causing a change in the relative positions; wherein the user's force of operation includes changing a user's weight on at least one of a handlebar or a step of the traveling apparatus;
a command accept unit configured to accept a command for traveling forward or backward from the user; and
a control unit configured to, while the command accept unit accepts the command for traveling forward, control the driving unit to drive the traveling apparatus to travel forward based on a forward target speed associated with the wheel base length in such a way that the greater the wheel base length, the greater the forward target speed becomes, and while the command accept unit accepts the command for traveling backward, control the driving unit to drive the traveling apparatus to travel backward based on a backward target speed associated with the wheel base length.

2. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the backward target speed is associated with the wheel base length in such a way that the backward target speed is a fixed speed except when the wheel base length is shortest and that the target speed is a speed 0 when the wheel base length is shortest.

3. The traveling apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a braking member configured to brake rotation of the front wheel, wherein the driving unit drives the rear wheel.

4. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the backward target speed is associated with the wheel base length in such a way that the greater the wheel base length, the greater the backward target speed becomes.

5. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the command accept unit does not accept a switching operation between traveling forward and traveling backward when the wheel base length is not shorter than a predetermined length.

6. The traveling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the command accept unit does not accept a switching operation between traveling forward and traveling backward when a speed of the traveling apparatus is not less than a predetermined speed.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kama Takeshi
• Mori Makoto

Classifications

• B62K5/06

  Frames for tricycles · CPC title

• B60K31/00 Primary

  Vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator · CPC title

• B62K3/002

  without a seat, i.e. the rider operating the vehicle in a standing position, e.g. non-motorized scooters; non-motorized scooters with skis or runners · CPC title

• B62K15/006 Primary

  the frame being foldable · CPC title

• B62K2204/00

  Adaptations for driving cycles by electric motor · CPC title