An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a body constructed to enable the UAV to fly and three or more legs connected to the body and configured to land and perch the UAV on a curved ferromagnetic surface. Each leg includes a first portion connected to the body, a second portion including a magnet and configured to magnetically attach and maintain the magnetic attachment of the leg to the ferromagnetic surface during the landing and perching, and a passive articulation joint connecting the first and second portions and configured to passively articulate the second portion with respect to the first portion in response to the second portion approaching the ferromagnetic surface. The UAV further includes a releasable crawler including magnetic wheels which detach the crawler from the body during the perching and maneuver the crawler on the ferromagnetic surface while magnetically attaching the crawler to the ferromagnetic surface after detachment.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) autonomously perching on a curved surface from a starting position is provided. The UAV includes: a 3D depth camera configured to capture and output 3D point clouds of scenes from the UAV including the curved surface; a 2D LIDAR system configured to capture and output 2D slices of the scenes; and a control circuit. The control circuit is configured to: control the depth camera and the LIDAR system to capture the 3D point clouds and the 2D slices, respectively, of the scenes; input the captured 3D point clouds from the depth camera and the captured 2D slices from the LIDAR system; autonomously detect and localize the curved surface using the captured 3D point clouds and 2D slices; and autonomously direct the UAV from the starting position to a landing position on the curved surface based on the autonomous detection and localization of the curved surface.

A method of inspection or maintenance of a curved ferromagnetic surface using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having a releasable crawler is provided. The method includes: flying the UAV from an initial position to a pre-perching position in a vicinity of the ferromagnetic surface; autonomously perching the UAV on the ferromagnetic surface; maintaining magnetic attachment of the perched UAV to the ferromagnetic surface; releasing the crawler from the magnetically attached UAV onto the ferromagnetic surface; moving the crawler over the curved ferromagnetic surface while maintaining magnetic attachment of the released crawler to the ferromagnetic surface; inspecting or maintaining the ferromagnetic surface using the magnetically attached crawler; and re-docking the released crawler with the perched UAV.

A driving force distribution control device is configured to control driving forces for right and left wheels of a vehicle. The driving force distribution control device includes an electronic control unit configured to obtain crosswind information regarding a crosswind to which the vehicle is to be subjected in a predetermined region located ahead in a direction of travel of the vehicle, and to control, in synchronization with arrival of the vehicle at the predetermined region, the driving forces for the right and left wheels based on the crosswind information so as to reduce an influence of the crosswind on traveling of the vehicle.

Systems and methods are provided herein for operating a vehicle in a front dig mode. The front dig mode is engaged in response to determining that speed of the vehicle is below a speed threshold and determining that the amount that at least one of the front wheels of the vehicle is turned exceeds a turn threshold. While operating in the front dig mode, forward torque is provided to the front wheels of the vehicle. Further, resistance is applied to forward rotation of the inner back wheel of the vehicle. Yet further, forward torque is provided to the outer back wheel of the vehicle.

A steer-by-wire steering system for a motor vehicle with a steerable front wheel axle that has two steerable wheels. The front wheel axle includes a single wheel drive which, by means of a drive controller, individually drives wheel drives which are associated with the steerable wheels. The drive controller has a controller which determines a target speed for the left-hand wheel and a target speed for the right-hand wheel in accordance with an accelerator pedal angle and a rotational angle of a steering shaft, and which limits the target speeds to a slip-limited speed. The drive controller individually drives the wheel drives in such a way that the difference between the target speed and the actual speed for each steerable wheel is minimal.

The present invention discloses an unmanned transporting robot and the chassis thereof, the chassis includes a floor, a drive unit and a follow unit; the follow unit is used to bear the loads of the chassis and the payload, and includes a plurality of follow components which are arranged on the floor to enable the floor to move smoothly (i. e. without the occurrence of tilting or vibration); the drive unit includes a first drive component and a second drive component which are located symmetrically on both ends of the floor. The present invention also discloses an unmanned transporting robot including the above-described chassis. The chassis of the unmanned transporting robot according to the present invention has the advantages of a compress structure, a small size and a high loading-bearing capacity.

A motorised vehicle comprises a first wheel located laterally on a first side of the vehicle, and a second wheel located laterally on a second side of the vehicle opposite the first side. The vehicle comprises a steering system configured to modify the orientation of the wheels and to turn the vehicle. The vehicle comprises a trajectory modifier configured to vary the speed of rotation of the first wheel and to modify the trajectory of the vehicle in the event of failure of the steering system.

A turning control device is provided for use in a vehicle control system including a steer-by-wire system and a brake system. The turning control device is configured to calculate a braking force difference, which is a difference in braking force between the left and right tire wheels. The turning control device is further configured to perform a high turning control that provides the braking force difference to the left and right tire wheels to cause a smaller turning radius of the vehicle when a steering angle corresponding value is larger than a judgment threshold.

The present invention provides a steering system for an in-wheel motor vehicle capable of controlling driving torques and speeds of in-wheel motors mounted in left and right wheels to be different from each other at the time of curve driving of the vehicle to generate a steering angle of the wheel for the curve driving, and performing a steering angle control of sensing the generated steering angle and fixing the steering angle to a desired steering angle.