Patent ID: 8678124

Claim:
An inverted pendulum vehicle comprising: a first travel operation unit capable of traveling on a floor surface; a first actuator that drives the first travel operation unit; a base body to which the first travel operation unit and the first actuator are installed; and a rider mounting section attached to the base body such that the rider mounting section is tiltable relative to a vertical direction, wherein the first travel operation unit is configured to be capable of traveling in all directions on the floor surface, including a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction relative to a rider on the rider mounting section, by a driving force of the first actuator, the inverted pendulum vehicle comprising: a second travel operation unit, which is connected to the first travel operation unit or the base body with an interval provided from the first travel operation unit in the longitudinal direction and which is configured to be capable of traveling in all directions on the floor surface; a second actuator which generates a driving force for causing the second travel operation unit to travel at least in the lateral direction; an operation unit which receives, from a rider on the rider mounting section, a longitudinal travel operation instruction for a travel of the inverted pendulum vehicle in the longitudinal direction, a lateral travel operation instruction for a travel of the inverted pendulum vehicle in the lateral direction, and a turn operation instruction for making a turn of the inverted pendulum vehicle; a velocity command output unit which outputs a longitudinal travel velocity command for causing the inverted pendulum vehicle to travel in the longitudinal direction at a command velocity based on a manipulated variable of the longitudinal travel operation, a lateral travel velocity command for causing the inverted pendulum vehicle to travel in the lateral direction at a command velocity based on a manipulated variable of the lateral travel operation, and a turn velocity command for causing the inverted pendulum vehicle to turn at a command velocity based on a manipulated variable of the turn operation; a control processing unit which controls the traveling operations of the first travel operation unit and the second travel operation unit by operating the first actuator and the second actuator according to the longitudinal travel velocity command, the lateral travel velocity command, and the turn velocity command; and a turn velocity command limiting unit which sets the turn velocity command based on the turn operation to be lower as the manipulated variable of the longitudinal travel operation decreases while the turn operation and the longitudinal travel operation are being performed through the operation unit.