A planar electric vehicle with differential steering and a plantar command

Abstract

This paper focuses on a new electric and compact vehicle with a differential steering and a sensitive plantar as driving command. The mechanical, electronic and software architecture are presented. A special focus is given to the sensitive surface of the vehicle chassis which allows the user to drive the vehicle by unbalancing his or her center-of-gravity (COG). The design of the plantar is herein outlined: the electronic system is described and the algorithm to estimate the COG position is proposed. Some experimental results about the sensitive plantar are reported.