Patent ID: 7785161

Claim:
A vehicle for movement relative to a medium, the vehicle comprising a base, and two carriages mounted side by side relative to the base for supporting respective feet of a human operator, the carriages mounted for forward and rearward movement relative to the base upon being driven by bipedal movement of the operator, a thrust mechanism operable to develop vehicle thrust by transmitting a force to the medium upon bipedally driven rearward movement of the carriages, and a drive mechanism operable to apply a drive to the base upon bipedally driven forward movement of the carriages, the thrust mechanism including at least one element movable between a deployed position, enabling application of force from a respective one of the carriages to the medium on said rearward movement of said carriage, and a neutral position, disabling application of force from said carriage to the medium, the at least one element presenting in the deployed position a high friction contact with the medium and presenting in the neutral position a low friction contact with the medium.