Multibody Analysis of a Human and Inverted-Pendulum Vehicle With and Without a Handle–Hand Constraint

An inverted-pendulum vehicle is controlled by the movement of the user’s gravity center; however, detailed dynamic interaction between the vehicle and a user has not been clarified. In a previous basic study, we investigated the relationships between the user and vehicle in the case that the handle and hand are not constrained [3]. In the present study, we constructed a model that constrains the hand and handle, and simulated the situation of the vehicle accelerating. The coupling model was built using multibody dynamics. The vehicle was expressed by three rigid bodies and a user by eight rigid bodies. In the numerical simulation, it was found that the vehicle accelerates more quickly when there is a constraint linking the handle and hand. This is because the force imparted by the user’s hand, resulting in inclination of the vehicle in the traveling direction, is easily transmitted to the vehicle through the handle.