Patent ID: 8882114

Claim:
A wearable device configured to selectively provide roller transportation, comprising: a shoe configured to at least partially accept a foot of a user of the wearable device, the shoe comprising a foot interface surface configured for selective contact with a bottom of the foot; a wheel assembly configured to selectively roll relative to a ground surface in response to rotation of at least a portion of the wheel assembly about an axle that is substantially coincident with an axis of rotation; and a frame connected between the shoe and the wheel assembly, the frame being configured to selectively transfer forces between the shoe and the wheel assembly and the frame comprising a clearance plane vertically offset from the ground surface; wherein at least one of (1) a distance between the ground surface and the foot interface surface and (2) a space between the ground surface and the foot interface surface is selected to provide a low center of gravity for at least one of the wearable device and the user when the wheel assembly is in contact with the ground surface and positioned to selectively roll relative to the ground surface; wherein the wearable device is configured so that (1) at least a portion of the axle is located vertically higher than the clearance plane, (2) the wheel assembly is movable in a forward-rearward direction relative to the frame, and (3) the wheel assembly is movable in an upward-downward direction relative to the frame; and wherein a center of rotation of the axle is coincident with the axis of rotation, wherein a first end of the axle is configured to selectively move along a first partially spherical sweep relative to the center of rotation of the axle, and wherein a second end of the axle is configured to selectively move along a second partially spherical sweep relative to the center of rotation of the axle.