Patent ID: 6443250
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: A61G,B60K,B62D,B62K,G05B

Abstract:
A vehicle for transporting a payload over a surface that may be irregular and may include stairs, the vehicle comprising:a. a support for supporting the payload; b. at least one ground contacting element moveable with respect to a local axis, the local axis being rotatable about a second axis having a defined relation with respect to the support, wherein all ground contacting elements are rotatable about the second axis; c. a motorized drive arrangement having an operating mode for controllable motion of the ground contacting element with respect to the local axis so that the local axis moves with respect to the second axis so as to operate in an operating condition that is always unstable with respect to tipping in at least a fore-aft plane when the motorized drive arrangement is not powered; and d. an input device for receiving an indication from a user of a specified configuration of the vehicle.