A Novel Electric Vehicle for Smart Indoor Mobility

This paper presents the design of the vehicle platform and of the related control system of an innovative electric vehicle tailored to indoor personal mobility. The vehicle is suitable for the transportation of a single passenger or small loads. It has no handlebars; therefore, the rider stands in an upright position and controls the vehicle direction via the combined use of a smartphone and of weight balancing. Specifically, the inertial sensors on board the smartphone allow commanding the vehicle motion, and two metal insoles equipped with pressure sensors allow gathering the user's weight distribution in real time to issue the steering commands. This paper presents all the development phases, characterized by a codesign of the vehicle mechanics and electronic systems that makes the motion control problem more easily managed than that of comparable existing mobility solutions.