Patent ID: 11904924

Abstract:
Respective electric drive motors (13a, 13b) drive left and right drive wheels (10a, 10b) having friction brakes, including an electromechanical service brake (31a, 31b) and an auxiliary brake (32a, 32b) mechanically biasing them to a braked state. An elongate handlebar (16) for user control is mounted via a pair of force-sensing couplings (17a, 17b) including a resilient member (18) and a load sensor (19) sensing forces applied by a user to the handlebar and transmitting respective load signals. A controller (37) receives the load signals and controls a current applied to the electric drive motors (13a, 13b) so as to amplify the force sensed by the force-sensing couplings and to generate a torque proportional to a force applied by the user to the handlebar and to actuate an electric release actuator of the auxiliary brake (32a, 32b) when the force applied by the user to the handlebar exceeds a threshold.