US 12,459,348 B2
Mobile robot drive system
Kevin Cederwall, Walnut Creek, CA (US); Pete Cardamone, Brentwood, CA (US); Seth Dunten, Castro Valley, CA (US); Ali Jabbari, Berkeley, CA (US); and Azharuddin Khaderi, Dublin, CA (US)
Assigned to OMRON Corporation, Kyoto (JP)
Appl. No. 17/754,478
Filed by OMRON Corporation, Kyoto (JP)
PCT Filed Oct. 13, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/055417
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 1, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/076519, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 22, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/914,943, filed on Oct. 14, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2024/0042845 A1, Feb. 8, 2024
Int. Cl. B60K 7/00 (2006.01); B60G 3/14 (2006.01); B60G 7/00 (2006.01); B60K 17/04 (2006.01); B62D 61/10 (2006.01)
CPC B60K 7/0007 (2013.01) [B60G 3/14 (2013.01); B60G 7/001 (2013.01); B60K 17/043 (2013.01); B62D 61/10 (2013.01); B60G 2800/162 (2013.01); B60K 2007/0084 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A mobile robot comprising:
a chassis;
a support system including at least three support wheels configured to support the chassis on a ground surface;
a drive system including a first drive assembly coupled with the chassis and configured to accelerate the mobile robot across the ground surface, the first drive assembly comprising:
a control arm having a first end, the first end pivotally coupled with the chassis at a pivot location, wherein the pivot location is a lowest elevation point on the chassis;
a biasing member having an upper end and a lower end, the lower end coupled with the chassis at a connection location and the upper end coupled with the control arm at a distance spaced from the first end;
a drivetrain including a drive shaft and a motor mounted on the control arm; and
a drive wheel mounted on the drive shaft, the drive wheel aligned along a forward-reverse direction of the mobile robot and rotatable about an axis aligned along a lateral direction that is generally orthogonal to the forward-reverse direction;
wherein the control arm is generally aligned along the forward-reverse direction and the connection location is located forward of the pivot location.