Patent ID: 8640807

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: a body; a pair of wheels that is attached to the body, and that is arranged in parallel; drive mechanisms that separately rotate the pair of wheels around wheel axes; and a control member that controls the drive mechanisms, wherein: the body is provided with a base to which the pair of wheels is attached, and a column disposed upright from the base for sustaining a payload with a load-supporting part that is attached thereon; the column is joined to the base via a shaft that extends in a non-parallel direction relative to the wheel axes, and is provided so as to be capable of sliding around the shaft; and the shaft is provided with an actuator, wherein the actuator is configured to impart torque to the column with an orientation that is the reverse of the sliding direction of the column; and the torque corresponds to a moment (mghθ), where mg is a load, h is a distance from a central axial line of the shaft to a traveling surface of the wheels, and θ is an angle of the sliding of the column.