A prototype of the vehicle system and the associated remote control systems using the Arduino units are developed. Numerical and experimental studies are presented to demonstrate the proposed concepts. | Journal of Automation and Control Engineering Vol. 3, No. 3, June 2015 Conceptual Design of Spherical Vehicle System for Future Transportation Chun-Hsien Ho, Chen-Kai Wu, Jia-Ying Tu, and Shang-Kai Hsu Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan Email: {steveho183532, markwu0410, shangkaihsu}@, jytu@ the passengers’ safety in traffic accidents. This issue is hardly to be improved because the automotive exterior and interior designs are significantly constrained by the all-wheel framework. Abstract—A conceptual design of spherical vehicle system for future transportation is proposed and experimentally verified in this paper. This uses the concepts of rolling motion, spherical structure, change of center of gravity and dynamic stability to realize planar locomotion. Modern wheeled automotive designs, which rely on sophisticated steering systems and multiple wheels to make physical contact with ground, inevitably increase the total weight and degrade the energy efficiency. In addition, the current designs of skeleton and body shell are relatively vulnerable to lateral impact, endangering the passengers’ safety in accidents. Thus, the proposed design completely removes the wheel and tire devices: a spherical shell is used as the vehicle body for locomotion. Additionally, a pendulum device is developed for the purpose of steering and balancing. Ideally, the spherical structure can release the impact energy in a more rapid and even way in a collision, improving the vehicle safety; the pendulum mechanism can reduce the mechanical complexity and improve transmission efficiency. A prototype of the vehicle system and the associated remote control systems using the Arduino units are developed. Numerical and experimental studies are presented to demonstrate the proposed concepts. Figure 1. The monowheeledrobot of[1] Index Terms—spherical robot, future transportation system I. INTRODUCTION Many .
