A chassis and skin of a delivery Autonomous Ground Vehicle include discrete upper and lower thermal management systems. The lower thermal management system is indirect, as is moves air through a closed duct that is in contact with high-heat dissipating components via heat sinks. The upper thermal management system is direct, as it moves air into the interior cavity of the AGV to cool sensors and other electronic equipment.

An assisted thrust system for a carriage provided with wheels that includes a base to which a first directional wheel and a second directional wheel are fixed that are connected to the base so as to be able to rotate around a respective axis perpendicular to the base; to the base a first drive wheel and a second drive wheel are further fixed that are rotated by at least one gearmotor unit, which drives the first drive wheel by a first magnetic coupling device and the second drive wheel by a second magnetic coupling device.

A materials handling vehicle including a battery receiving space, and a removable battery assembly, wherein: the battery receiving space includes opposing pairs of battery guide pins, each opposing pair arranged on opposite sides of the battery receiving space, and each opposing pair includes a latching pin and a guiding pin; the removable battery assembly includes a battery locking mechanism; the battery locking mechanism includes spring-loaded locking pins that are spring-biased in extended positions and are movable from the extended positions to respective retracted positions; the latching pin of each opposing pair of battery guide pins includes a recess forming a battery latch that is positioned to receive a leading portion of one of the spring-loaded locking pins in the extended position.

A materials handling vehicle including a battery receiving space, and a removable battery assembly, wherein: the removable battery assembly includes a battery body and a battery locking mechanism; the battery locking mechanism includes a spring-loaded battery handle and a spring-loaded locking pin; the battery receiving space includes a battery latch positioned to receive the spring-loaded locking pin; the spring-loaded battery handle includes a planar handle cam surface and the spring-loaded locking pin includes a planar pin cam surface such that the handle cam surface engages the pin cam surface with movement of the battery handle relative to the battery body; the spring-loaded battery handle is spring-biased in a locked position; and the spring-loaded locking pin is spring-biased in an extended position and is movable to a retracted position in response to movement of the battery handle from the locked position to an unlocked position.

A vehicle drive unit for a vehicle for omnidirectional driving of the vehicle. The vehicle drive unit includes a vehicle platform, a drive platform, and at least two wheels arranged on the drive platform, one drive unit being provided per wheel to drive the wheel. A controllable self-locking steering actuator is arranged between the drive platform and the vehicle platform. The steering actuator is rotatable about a longitudinal axis and is used to rotate the vehicle platform and the drive platform relative to one another, the steering actuator allowing a temporary blocking of the rotation. At least three pivoting wheels are arranged on the vehicle platform for vehicle stabilisation, each being rotatable about its own wheel axis and about its own vertical axis. A vehicle having a vehicle drive unit is also provide.

A wheeled vehicle includes a vehicle body, a vibration absorbing element, an auxiliary arm, a wheel, and a driving member. The vibration absorbing element includes a first end and a second end. The first end is fixed to the vehicle body. The auxiliary arm includes a connecting end and a free end. The connecting end is connected to the vehicle body. The free end is configured to swing relative to the connecting end. The free end is fixed to the second end. The wheel includes an axle, and the axle is rotationally connected to the free end. The driving member is fixed to the vehicle body and configured to drive the wheel.

A mobile transport system includes a vehicle frame, first and second pairs of support wheels, first and second drive wheels, and a swing frame. A drive unit including a drive frame is disposed on the swing frame. The first drive wheel is rotatably supported on a first swing arm, and the second drive wheel is rotatably supported on a second swing arm. The first and second swing arms are coupled to each other by a coupling unit, such that a pivot motion of the first swing arm about a first swing axis in a first pivot direction brings about a pivot motion of the second swing arm about a second swing axis in a second pivot direction oriented opposite to the first pivot direction.

Methods and systems are provided for traction detection and control of a self-driving vehicle. The self-driving vehicle has drive motors that drive drive-wheels according to a drive-motor speed. Traction detection and control can be obtained by measuring the vehicle speed with a sensor such as a LiDAR or video camera, and measuring the wheel speed of the drive wheels with a sensor such as a rotary encoder. The difference between the measured vehicle speed and the measured wheel speeds can be used to determine if a loss of traction has occurred in any of the wheels. If a loss of traction is detected, then a recovery strategy can be selected from a list of recovery strategies in order to reduce the effects of the loss of traction.

A transport system that transports a transport object in a state sandwiching the transport object between two transport robots, wherein the transport robot comprises: a main body; wheels; a drive part(s); a contact part; and a rotation mechanism, and wherein using hardware resources, the following processings are executed, the following processings comprising: predicting an orbit of a first transport robot arranged in front of the transport object; and predicting an orbit of a second transport robot so that the second transport robot pushes the transport object from outside of the orbit of the first transport robot in a curve based on the predicted orbit of the first transport robot, the second transport robot arranged behind the transport object.

A caster apparatus is provided. In one embodiment, there is provided a caster apparatus including a caster wheel and a first driving wheel disposed on a first side of the caster wheel. The first driving wheel is configured to be driven by a first motor. A second driving wheel is disposed on a second side opposite to the first side of the caster wheel. The second driving wheel is configured to be driven by a second motor different from the first motor. A first actuator is configured to move the first driving wheel in a vertical direction to a ground according to a curvature of the ground. A second actuator is configured to move the second driving wheel in a vertical direction to the ground according to a curvature of the ground, wherein the first and second driving wheels are configured to steer the caster wheel.