Development of wheeled inverted pendulum type personal mobility with pedal: Design of prototype platform and verification of basic driving function

In this paper, the mechanism and basic driving function of a wheeled inverted pendulum-type personal mobility with a pedal (Wi-PMP) are described. The mobility consists of a wheeled inverted pendulum-type mobile platform and a leg rowing mechanism, and thus it can be driven by a rider's leg rowing motion. Moreover, to retain the merits of pivot turning of a parallel two-wheeled mobility, a differential gear box and a one-way clutch are installed between the pedal and the wheel shafts. It is designed such that a rider can ground his feet while sitting on the saddle. In addition, the Wi-PMP is compact and light-weight, and thus it can be driven and parked in a narrow space. Through experiments using three types of driving mode(motor driving, pedal driving, and assist driving), it was confirmed that mobility can realize all driving modes and pivot turning while keeping the feet of the rider on the pedals.