Vehicles are disclosed which have a lower center of gravity than existing all-terrain, amphibious, and unmanned ground vehicles due to the location of propulsion units and other vehicle components inside the wheels of the vehicle. The vehicles can climb over large obstacles yet are also able to corner at high speeds. The vehicles can be configured for direct manual operation or operation by remote control, and can also be configured for a wide variety of missions.

A robot may have a sphere-like outer shell defining an inner cavity. An axle unit includes an axle connected at its opposed ends to the outer shell, in the inner cavity, and a transmission to transmit a torque to the axle. A pendulum drive unit is operatively connected to the axle unit and supported in the outer shell by the axle, the pendulum drive unit having actuators to produce torque, the actuators operatively connected to the transmission of the axle unit. The axle unit and the pendulum drive unit concurrently define a cylindrical joint by which the pendulum drive unit is movable in rotation and translation relative to the axle to tilt and drive the sphere-like outer shell via the actuators.

Vehicles are disclosed which have a lower center of gravity than existing all-terrain, amphibious, and unmanned ground vehicles due to the location of propulsion units and other vehicle components inside the wheels of the vehicle. The vehicles can climb over large obstacles yet are also able to corner at high speeds. The vehicles can be configured for direct manual operation or operation by remote control, and can also be configured for a wide variety of missions.

Methods and systems for an electric drive unit. The electric drive unit includes, in one example, a stator assembly with a first set of stator windings and a second set of stator windings, a first set of rotors in which each rotor is configured to electromagnetically interact with the first set of stator windings and rotationally couple to a distinct gear in a first summation gear set, a second set of rotors in which each rotor is configured to electromagnetically interact with the second set of stator windings and rotationally couple to a distinct gear in a second summation gear set. The electric drive unit further includes a disconnect clutch configured to rotationally disconnect a first rotor in the first set of rotors from the first summation gear set.

A vehicle including a vehicle platform having a reference frame, the reference frame arranged along a longitudinal axis. A first vehicle corner module (VCM) is connected to one side of the reference frame and a second VCM is connected to an opposing side of the reference frame. The first and second VCMs are adapted for regulating motion of the vehicle. A sub-frame of at least one of the first VCM and the second VCM is disposed at a splay angle relative to the longitudinal axis.