| Summary: | Purpose: Personal mobility vehicles (PMVs) are under active development. Most PMVs are wheel-driven, a mode of transport notable for its efficiency. However, wheeled PMVs tend to have poor mobility against negotiating obstacles. The four-wheeled vehicle RT-Mover PType 3 has been developed featuring wheeled legs capable of leg motion. This allows the PMV to overcome uneven terrains, including a step approached at an angle, which ordinary wheelchairs cannot negotiate. Method: This article discusses a gait algorithm in which a leg executes the necessary leg motion when optionally presented with obstacles on a road. In order to lift a wheel off the ground and perform a leg motion, the support wheels must be moved to support points to ensure that the vehicle remains stable on three wheels. When moving towards the target support point, a wheel may encounter another obstacle, and a response method for this case is also described. Results: To assess the gait algorithm, several configurations of obstacles were used for performance tests with a passenger. The capabilities of the PMV were demonstrated through experiments. Conclusion: We proposed a novel gait algorithm for our PMV and realised the proposed motion pattern for PMV-based negotiating obstacles.
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