A robotic vehicle for traversing surfaces comprises a chassis having a plurality of wheels mounted thereto. Two magnetic drive wheels are spaced apart in a lateral direction and rotate about a rotational axis while a stabilizing wheel is provided in front of or behind the two drive wheels. The drive wheels are configured to be driven independently, thereby driving and steering the vehicle along the surface. The vehicle also includes a sensor probe assembly that is supported by the chassis and configured to take measurements of the surface being traversed. In accordance with a salient aspect, the vehicle includes a probe normalization mechanism that is configured to determine the surface curvature and adjust the orientation of the probe transducer as a function of the curvature of the surface, thereby maintaining the probe at the preferred inspection angle irrespective of changes in the surface curvature with vehicle movement.

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.

A method for increasing airport airside parking locations without adding infrastructure to the airport is provided. Aircraft equipped with pilot-controllable landing gear wheel-mounted electric taxi drive systems for ground travel are maneuvered forward into remote tarmac stands or non-standard parking locations with the electric taxi drive systems, turned 180 degrees through tight turns, and parked in a nose-out orientation that enables the aircraft to efficiently unload and load passengers. The electric taxi drive systems drive the departing aircraft forward out of the parking locations. Remote tarmac parking locations may be located in areas that do not interfere with arrival and departure of aircraft parking at existing terminal stands. The present method may increase aircraft parking capacity at an airport, provide better utilization of existing tarmac space at the airport, reduce requirements for ground personnel on a per-flight basis, and improve airport ground operations efficiency.

A taxi drive system is disclosed that provides motive force to wheels of an aircraft. The motive force is transferred by a motor powered continuous track (e.g., belt, chain, or other flexible transmission element) directly to the wheel(s) of an aircraft. The system is carried by the landing gear of the aircraft, and is placed in engagement with an aircraft wheel with sufficient force to allow for the track to drive the aircraft wheel. The taxi drive system includes a separate motor from the main aircraft engines so that the aircraft may be taxied while the main engines are shutdown or at idle.

A landing gear system includes wheel rotatably coupled to an axle. A driveshaft extends through a cavity formed in the axle and is rotatable about an axis. A planetary gear includes a sun gear operably coupled to the drive shaft and a planet gear operably engaging the sun gear. The planetary gear further includes a ring gear that surrounds and is operably coupled to the planet gear so that rotation of the drive shaft rotates the ring gear. A clutch assembly is selectively moveable between an engaged state and a disengaged state. The clutch assembly transfers rotation of the ring gear to the wheel when the clutch assembly is in the engaged state, and the clutch assembly does not transfer rotation of the wheel to the ring gear when the clutch assembly is in the disengaged state.

A landing gear system includes a drive shaft extending through an axle. A wheel with a drive surface is rotatably coupled to the axle. A drive assembly, which has disengaged and engaged states, includes a drive element and an idler element. The drive element, which has an engagement feature, is coupled to the drive shaft for rotation about an axis. The engagement feature has first and second diameters when the drive assembly is in the disengaged and engaged states, respectively. The idler element is frictionally engaged with the engagement feature of the drive element to transfer rotation of the drive element to the wheel when the drive assembly is in the engaged state. The idler element is disengaged from at least one of the engagement feature of drive element and the wheel when the drive assembly is in the disengaged state.

A roller gear for use in a roller gear and sprocket configuration of a drive system is disclosed, particularly for use in a landing gear drive system of an aircraft. Alternative embodiments and, in particular, means for permitting removal and replacement of rollers and roller mounting pins in the roller gear are disclosed.

An electrically powered STOL aircraft having dedicated motors energized to deploy movable landing gear driven to propel short takeoffs and to actively rotate downwardly to engage the runway surface as the aircraft approaches touchdown on landing. The front and rear landing gear, or both, may be powered and actuated in the landing process with braking to shorten the landing distance, each driven landing gear wheel having a dedicated electric motor and coaxial brake.

An electrically powered STOL aircraft having dedicated motors energized to deploy movable landing gear driven to propel short takeoffs and to actively rotate downwardly to engage the runway surface as the aircraft approaches touchdown on landing. The front and rear landing gear, or both, may be powered and actuated in the landing process with braking to shorten the landing distance, each driven landing gear wheel having a dedicated electric motor and coaxial brake. The landing gear modules are configured and controllable to differentially deploy downwardly so as to enable countersteering during taxi maneuvers and turns.

The present invention provides a method for maneuvering and aligning aircraft equipped and driven during ramp ground travel with landing gear wheel-mounted electric taxi drive systems that have deviated from taxi line travel paths and for maneuvering the electric taxi drive system-driven aircraft to park accurately to align with locations of parking stops when the aircraft nose landing gear wheels stop beyond or short of a parking stop. The aircraft pilot can, without waiting for a tug or starting aircraft engines, precisely maneuver the aircraft with the electric taxi drive systems while viewing the taxi line and parking stop location in real time with an optional camera and sensor system while maneuvering the aircraft in forward or reverse and lateral directions to align the aircraft nose wheels with the taxi line path and to accurately position the nose landing gear wheels at the parking stop.