A land vehicle includes a frame structure, a plurality of wheels supported by the frame structure, and a body supported by the frame structure. The frame structure includes an operator cage that at least partially defines an operator cabin and a rear compartment positioned rearward of the operator cage in a longitudinal direction. The body includes a first sidewall arranged on one side of the vehicle and a second sidewall arranged on another side of the vehicle opposite the first sidewall.

A land vehicle includes a frame structure, a plurality of wheels, and an impact management system. The frame structure includes an operator cage that at least partially defines an operator cabin and a rear compartment positioned rearward of the operator cage in a longitudinal direction. The frame structure includes a pair of rails that each extends in the longitudinal direction from a first end arranged adjacent a pair of front wheels to a second end arranged adjacent a pair of rear wheels. The plurality of wheels are supported by the frame structure. The plurality of wheels includes the pair of front wheels and the pair of rear wheels. The pair of front wheels are positioned forward of the pair of rear wheels in the longitudinal direction.

A two wheeled throwable robot with a pair of motorized wheels mounted on each end of an elongate body and a rearwardly extending tail. The body comprising a chassis with an accessory mounting interface on top side and rearward side. A backpack accessory providing active sensing or environmental effects has an inverted L-shape when viewed from an end and attaches to the rearward side of the elongate body and extends over the topside of the body. The stabilizing tail for the two wheeled robot attaches to a rearward surface of the backpack accessory. The robot and backpack accessory have impact protection means when the robot is thrown. The backpack accessory may be within a zone of protection defined by the maximum deflection of the wheels or may have elastomeric bumpers when the accessory backpack projects out of the zone of protection.

Vehicle chassis with interchangeable performance packages and related methods. are disclosed herein. An example vehicle chassis disclosed herein includes a frame including a first chassis portion including a cavity, a battery platform coupled to first chassis portion, and a first subframe couplable within the cavity, the first subframe including a first motor and a first suspension assembly, and a second subframe couplable within the cavity, the second subframe including a second motor and a second suspension assembly, the second motor having a greater power than the first motor, the second suspension assembly having a greater stiffness than the first suspension assembly.

Land vehicles and methods of operating land vehicles are disclosed. A land vehicle includes a frame structure, a plurality of wheels, and a plurality of electric motors. The frame structure includes a front cage that at least partially defines an operator cabin and a rear compartment positioned rearward of the front cage in a longitudinal direction. The plurality of wheels are supported by the frame structure. The plurality of wheels includes a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels positioned rearward of the pair of front wheels in the longitudinal direction.

Inspection robots and methods for inspection of curved surfaces with sensors at selected horizontal distances are described. An example of such an inspection robot includes a housing; a drive module with a wheel and a motor operatively linked to the housing, a plurality of sensor sleds, and a payload. The payload, which is coupled to the housing, may include a first and a second rail component, each with at least one connector, where the rail components are connectable at a first selected position of a plurality of discrete engagement positions. Each of the rail components may be structured to support at least one of the plurality of sleds where each of the plurality of sleds is coupled to the payload at a respective selected horizontal position such that the plurality of sleds are at selected horizontal distances from each other.

A mobile body includes axial gap motors, a multiplexing mechanism, an abnormality detection mechanism, and a blocking mechanism. The axial gap motors generate driving power to be supplied to at least one wheel. The multiplexing mechanism multiplexes the axial gap motors and couples the axial gap motors to the at least one wheel of the mobile body. The abnormality detection mechanism detects an abnormality in the axial gap motors. In a case where the abnormality is detected in a certain axial gap motor of the multiplexed axial gap motors, the blocking mechanism blocks supplying of driving power from the certain axial gap motor independently of the multiplexed axial gap motors other than the certain axial gap motor, and maintains supplying of driving power to the at least one wheel from the multiplexed axial gap motors other than the certain axial gap motor.

A suspension system including a Chebyshev-Lambda (CL) mechanism, at least one linear motion mechanism and a spring-damper assembly, the CL mechanism including a suspension-arm, a support-arm and a first rotating-arm, an end of the rotating-arm being configured to be coupled with a reference frame at an anchoring-node, an operational-end of the suspension-arm being configured to be coupled with a suspended-mount at a first node, an end of the support-arm being configured to be coupled with the reference frame at a support-anchoring-node, the linear motion mechanism configured to be coupled with the reference frame via at least one anchoring node, an end of the linear motion mechanism being configured to be coupled with the suspended-mount at a second node, and the spring-damper assembly including at least one spring and at least one damper, wherein respective first and second ends of the spring and the damper are coupled between two points.

A rugged and compact articulated wheel with at least two hubs, and wheeled vehicles that include one or more of such articulated wheels.

Described herein are methods and systems for controlling differential wheel speeds of multi-independent-wheel vehicles, such as four-wheel-drive electric tractors (4WD-ETs). Specifically, a method comprises determining a target speed for each wheel of the vehicle based on at least the steering input. The linear travel speeds (corresponding to these target speeds) of any two wheels are different when the vehicle turns (steering input deviates from a no-steering baseline) or the same when the vehicle travels in a straight line (steering input is at the no-steering baseline). Each target wheel speed is then used to control the rotational speed of the corresponding electric motor, which independently drives one of the vehicle's wheels. This process of determining the target wheel speeds and independently controlling all electric motors is frequently repeated such that the vehicle can be propelled through the turn at the desired speed with minimal wheel slip.