FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a vehicle capable of multiple varieties of locomotion. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle that is capable of utilizing different methods of movement by rotating its propellers to accommodate air, ground, or water locomotion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Quadrotors and hexrotors have revolutionized a variety of applications, including toys, the delivery of goods, or the delivery of devices and information in the battlefield. Although the ability to fly allows such devices to reach locations that are inaccessible to ground vehicles, there are locations where ground vehicles are still best suited for a given task.

For example, a policeman involved in a hostage situation may like to have a flying vehicle capable of traversing an open doorway; however, he may then prefer to possess a ground vehicle for traversing the indoors of the building in search of the suspect. A combination between air and ground vehicles would be better suited for this mission. In particular, such a vehicle would be able to provide a significantly longer work time, since the ground vehicle consumes significantly less energy than the quadrotor. Similar levels of efficiency can be found with a quadrotor that becomes an air-boat. In the next section, we will present different embodiments of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a mechanism for creating vehicles that are capable of various kinds of movement or locomotion. The unique aspect of the present invention includes being able to change the direction of the thrust mechanism, so that it creates thrust in the direction of flight, but it is hinged to provide full protection to the blades in the ground modality. In the case of the water implementation, these propellers are also used to provide horizontal thrust to the vessel.

