The invention relates to a powered wheelchair (100) for transporting a person, comprising a seat frame (40) for supporting the person, a pair of opposing main wheel assemblies (20, 30), including a first main wheel assembly (20) and a second main wheel assembly (30) connected to the seat frame (40), and a third main wheel assembly (50) arranged spaced apart from the pair of opposing main wheel assemblies (20, 30) and connected to said seat frame (40). The powered wheelchair further comprises a support wheel arrangement (10) for supporting the powered wheelchair (100), said support wheel arrangement (10) having a main beam (12) and a front support wheel unit (14) capable of being applied to a ground surface (95). The main beam (12) is rotatably connected to said third main wheel assembly (50) at a third connection point (C.sub.3) and connected via a guiding mechanism (80) to the first main wheel assembly (20) at a first connection point (C.sub.1). The main beam (12) has a first portion (16) adapted to cooperate with said guiding mechanism (80) when said first portion (16) passes through a part of the guiding mechanism (80) upon movement of the main beam (12) relative to the guiding mechanism (80), to maintain said support wheel arrangement in a supporting position (S), in which the front support wheel unit is applied to the ground surface (95).

The present invention relates to a drive system for an electric vehicle comprising: a wheel rim, a bearing arrangement, a plurality of rotor elements circumferentially arranged along a circumference coaxial with a circumference of the wheel rim and fixated to the wheel rim adjacent to the bearing arrangement; and a plurality of stator elements circumferentially arranged along a circumference coaxial with the circumference of the rotor elements and spaced apart from the rotor elements, the stator elements are non-rotationally arranged to the non-rotating portion of the bearing arrangement, whereby an air gap in is formed between a stator element and a rotor element, wherein a first distance from the axis of rotation to the bearing arrangement is larger than a second distance from the air gap to the bearing arrangement.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a wheelchair configured to reposition an occupant between a lowered and a raised position. The wheelchair can include a frame, a seat moveable relative to the frame, a drive wheel, and one or more pairs of arm assemblies. The arm assembly includes a wheel configured to move from a first spatial location when the wheel chair is operating on flat, level ground to a second spatial location that is different than the first spatial location. Arm limiters that can selectively engage the arm assembly dependent on the position of the arm assembly and surface conditions of ground and can limit the range of motion of the arm assembly and sometimes other operational aspects of the chair.

A front wheel drive powered wheelchair is provided and may include a support frame, a pair of opposing drive wheels, a pair of drives, and a pair of rear wheels. The frame may include a front portion, a seat post, and two independent arms extending rearward from the front portion. Each drive wheel may be coupled to the front portion of the frame. Each drive may be mounted to the front portion of the frame and may be operatively connected to a respective drive wheel of the pair of drive wheels. Each rear wheel may be coupled to a respective independent arm of the support frame. Each independent arm may be capable of flexing independent of the other.

The present disclosure relates to a wheelchair comprising a wheel axle (1) having a wheel axle end portion (9) and hub (3) having a central through-opening (11) arranged to receive the wheel axle end portion (9). The wheel axle end portion (9) has an external surface having three chamfered faces (3a, 3b), each chamfered face (3a, 3b) defining a planar surface, and the hub (3) has inner walls (13a, 13b, 13c) defining the central through-opening (11). The inner walls (13a, 13b, 13c) are arranged to engage with the chamfered faces (3a, 3b) of the wheel axle end portion (9) to prevent relative rotation between the hub (3) and the wheel axle (1).

A system and method for providing precise navigation for a motorized mobile system (MMS) in data deprived environments, the system comprising at least one camera that is operably configured to generate one or more of an image of objects in a field-of-view of the sensors, wherein the object is identified and used to enhance navigation or operation of the MMS.

Several embodiments of wheeled vehicles, such as wheelchairs, that are adapted to traverse obstacles are disclosed. The wheeled vehicles include a frame, drive wheels, front anti-tip wheels positioned in front of the drive wheels, and rear anti-tip wheels positioned behind the drive wheels. One exemplary vehicle includes front anti-tip wheels supported by rigid arms that are fixed to the frame and drive assemblies that are independently suspended from the frame. Another exemplary vehicle includes a linkage that links the front and rear anti-tip wheels, such that movement of one of the front anti-tip wheel or the rear anti-tip wheel relative to the frame causes movement of the other wheel relative to the frame.

A system and method for providing precise navigation for a motorized mobile system (MMS) in data deprived environments, the system comprising at least one camera that is operably configured to generate one or more of an image of objects in a field-of-view of the sensors, wherein the object is identified and used to enhance navigation or operation of the MMS.

A system and method for a motorized mobile chair use a plurality of sensors having a plurality of sensor types to detect a plurality of objects and generate sensor data about the detected objects, each of the detected objects being a person, the sensor data about the objects comprising a plurality of range measurements to the people and a plurality of bearing measurements to the people. The system has at least one processor to receive the sensor data about the people, group the detected people into a plurality of zones, determine a closest person in each zone, and generate one or more control signals to cause the motorized mobile chair to match a speed and a direction of the closest person in the zone corresponding to a direction of travel of the motorized mobile chair while at least approximately maintaining a selected space to the closest person in the zone corresponding to the direction of travel of the motorized mobile chair.