ITTV20130200A1 - PHYSICAL EXERCISE MACHINE - Google Patents

Description

"MACHINE FOR PHYSICAL EXERCISE"

DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to a physical exercise machine or device and to a related control method.

Modern machines or devices for physical exercise are generally equipped with a resistant element (handlebar, barbell, push plate, pull rope, etc.) that can be moved by the user's muscle strength with some excursion.

The most recent machines are intelligent, so much so that the resistant response of the element can follow, through the action of a drive, a programmed reference signal, see eg. paragraphs 26, 70, 95-96, 139 of US 2001/0195819. US 8360 935 also proposes the same idea.

A motor included in a feedback loop is used to control the resistant element. A variable x provided by a sensor on the resistance element is acquired and a motor is driven to ensure that the error between x and a reference signal is small, or that x follows the desired trend. The reference can be a programmable function of time t and / or of x, v. eg. graphs in fig. 3 and 5 of US 2011/0195819.

These machines have the disadvantage of responding to user behavior only in real time during its operation.

A resistance reference can be programmed but it is erroneously assumed that the athlete can or always know how to follow it. In sports or therapeutic rehabilitation, or eg. in professional training, a strong personalization of the machine is essential, and to obtain it the athlete must know how to program the machine and then always proceed by trial and error. Not only is time wasted, but the person-machine adaptation is poor and / or not repeatable. Finally, the machine absolutely does not take into account the different muscular characteristics in each individual, who must, if he can, configure the machine to measure. But the perfect stimulation of the muscle fiber requires the precise definition of the response of the machine throughout the excursion, which is not only impossible to achieve by programming but implies that the user already knows his muscle response.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that a high-level, personalized training, or even more so when it is rehabilitative, requires programming the machine in every detail of its response starting from the individuality of the athlete.

Overcoming at least one of these problems is the main object of the invention, which is defined in the attached claims, in which the dependent claims define advantageous variants.

We propose a method performed in a device or machine for physical exercise, characterized by storing in real time in a memory a signal containing information relating to the user's action on the machine while he is performing an exercise.

This gives you the advantage of having a track or trend of the exercise and / or some of its parameters available, eg. for a trial exercise. By means of the trace or trend you can eg. check the athlete's physical or muscular state in real time and / or check their progress or regresses (e.g. fatigue) over time (during a sequence of exercises or within a single exercise) and / or set automatically the working or load parameters of the machine as a function of said acquired signal.

Said signal can be the action or interaction of the user with a generic portion of the machine (different for example from a mobile resistant element), such as for example. a footboard, a seat or backrest or a generic sensor, such as a heart rate monitor or thermometer.

If the machine has a resistance element that can be moved by a user through muscular force with a certain excursion, said signal can (also) be a signal containing information relating to the movement of the element during the excursion operated by a user. .

The variable sampled or acquired with the signal can be the linear or angular position of the resistant element.

It is then possible to measure the athlete's performance on the resistant element and modify the operation of the machine accordingly, opening up countless variations of therapeutic or training applications.

Eg. this information may include the position taken by the element during the excursion and / or one or more time derivatives of the position trend.

The advantages are a simple choice of the signal, which provides excellent and complete information on the athlete's behavior. Furthermore, having and / or calculating the said derivatives allows a better dynamic programming of the resistant element.

Advantageously, the method controls the resistance offered by the resistant element, or in general the behavior of the machine, according to the memorized signal, with the advantage that the machine can be programmed to adapt it, even in real time, to the personal characteristics of the athlete. even momentary such as fatigue or difficulty in making a certain movement or reaching a certain position within the single exercise, etc.

Preferably, the stored signal is compared with a reference curve and the resistance and / or said behavior is controlled according to the result obtained from the comparison.

There is the advantage that the machine can be programmed to adapt it to the personal characteristics of the athlete, in particular on the deficiencies compared to a set program.

The resistance offered by the resistant element can be determined using a mathematical model applied to the stored signal and / or to the result of the said comparison, thus obtaining numerous operating variants.

You can check the resistance offered by the resistant element to replicate a trend that generated the stored signal or a replica of it, eg. scaled by programmable coefficients.

So you can program the machine to repeat (the conditions of) previous sessions or exercises.

It is also possible to automatically generate a resistant response for the element and then store said signal during the user's activity on the element. The advantage is to be able to program the machine for eg. assess the state of an athlete or functioning of a limb.

A physical exercise device or machine is also proposed to carry out the method. It includes

a memory, e

an acquisition circuit or means to acquire and store in real time in the memory a signal containing information relating to the user's action on the machine while he is performing an exercise.

As independent variants, the machine can comprise:

as an acquisition means a sampler adapted to acquire the signal;

a resistance element that is movable by a user through muscular force with a certain excursion, and the acquisition means stores in real time a signal containing information relating to the movement of the element during the excursion operated by a user;

a means of acquisition designed to acquire the position taken by the element during the excursion and / or one or more time derivatives of the position trend;

an electronic controller (e.g. PLC or microprocessor, better programmable) designed to control the behavior of the machine according to the stored signal, in particular to control the resistance offered by the resistant element according to the stored signal;

an electronic controller suitable for comparing the stored signal with a reference curve and the resistance and / or said behavior, and then controlling the machine according to the result obtained from the comparison. In particular, the electronic controller is able to determine the resistance offered by the resistant element using a mathematical model applied to the stored signal and / or to the result of said comparison;

an electronic controller designed to automatically generate a resistant response for the element and then to memorize said signal during the user's activity on the element.

We also propose an accessory module applicable to a physical exercise machine, comprising an input line to acquire in real time in a memory a signal containing information relating to the user's action on the machine while he is performing an exercise.

Also for the accessory module it can be generally provided that it carries out every variant of the method and / or contains the elements of the aforementioned machine, with the same advantages.

The advantages of the invention will be clearer from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the machine, referring to the attached drawing in which

Fig. 1 shows a graph of a signal present in a preferred machine; Fig. 2 shows an axonometric view of a preferred machine;

Fig. 3 shows an axonometric view of a preferred machine variant. In the figures, like numbers indicate identical or conceptually similar parts.

In fig. 2 shows an example of a machine 50 having an electric motor Mot which is controlled by a drive 60 and drives a movable resistance element, e.g. a handle 58 attached to a rope 56 which a user can pull with his muscle strength. The rope 56 eg. it is returned in a known way on pulleys 54 and pulled in a known way by a driving pulley 55 keyed on the engine Mot. The Mot engine can also eg. check a handlebar, rocker, push plate, etc.

The purpose of the machine 50 is to drive the motor Mot to control the element 58 so that it offers a desired resistance R * (see also FIG. 1), so that the user experiences the desired resistance when working with it. For this purpose, a known negative feedback loop can be used, which for example includes drive 60 and / or motor Mot.

The drive 60 is driven by an electronic controller 70 which has a computing unit 72 (for example a microprocessor or PLC) capable of calculating and generating a torque reference signal R * on an output line 90. The controller 70 receives a feedback signal directly from the drive 60 along a line 62.

The computing unit 72 can be implemented with hardware and / or be part of a computer program. The actions described for unit 70 or 72 can be understood as performed after and / or through adequate programming.

The machine 50 can comprise a force sensor adapted to measure the user's force on the element 58, e.g. an acceleration sensor or a load cell, or a position sensor designed to generate a signal relating to the position of the element 58 along its path of movement, i.e. the excursion. However, it is convenient to use a Mot motor equipped with an encoder, so that the drive 60 provides an indirect kinematic value (fig. 1) for the x position (linear or angular) of element 58 (signal on line 62). In particular, x can conventionally assume values xmin <= x <= xmax, with xmin beginning of the excursion and xmax at the end.

Unit 70 includes a sampler 78, with which it can sample the signal x (known A / D and D / A converters for analogue digitization / reconstruction of signals are not shown for simplicity). Or A / D converters are not used because the position that can be obtained from the bits of the phases generated by an encoder inside the Mot motor is enough.

Samples, eg. different values of interest obtained from position x, from the reference given and from the time, can be stored in a memory 80 and (re) read if necessary.

Unit 70 or 72 is programmable so that the user can also, for example, import customized samples from the outside into memory 80 and / or can save them there to recall them in subsequent sessions without having to re-program the machine 50 each time. Unit 70 or 72 can also make the aforementioned data from memory 80 available to the external or receive them, eg. via USB or serial port or network card 82, to allow the export of the customization to other machines or the import of samples. Unit 70 or 72 can also send in real time, eg. via wireless with a transceiver stage 84, to another remote device Z such as a remote control or a control unit, a quantity of samples obtained during the exercise.

Samples via unit 70 or 72 can be displayed as graphs or numbers on a display 66 (e.g. touch-screen) and / or manipulated / altered / programmed by entering data and values with the help of a 68 keyboard on the same machine 50 or possibly on said remote device Z to which the data were sent.

With the sampler 78 you can sample the x signal to store the trend for one or two directions of the excursion, eg. lifting and lowering of a balance wheel or return of an organ along an arc (see fig. 3, x would represent in this case an angle, called �). In this case it is sufficient to store separately the punctual value of x or � in time instants relating to the trajectory of the resistant element from xmina xmax (outward) and from xmax to xmin (return).

Through the unit 70 or 72 you can mathematically process the samples or the x or � signal in order to

- use different scales and units of measurement; and / or

- take into account any cams articulated on or associated with the resistant element, which can distort the force and position values. This allows eg. to adapt the system of the invention to a pre-existing mechanics.

Through unit 70 or 72 it is also possible to provide for example to compensate for the weight of the mechanical structure and possibly of the limb that performs the exercise.

It should be noted in particular that the machine 50 can advantageously control the Mot motor independently for the two directions of travel of the excursion, so the exercises can have different and programmable responses in the two relative trajectories or movements of the resistant element.

Unit 72 can perform other additional operations such as for example. the calculation of <derivatives dix / dti and / or di� / dti (i> 0), and / or a maximum or minimum or threshold control for x and / o> � and these derivatives, as well as their storage in memory 80 Sometimes the drive 60 supplies x and the derivatives already calculated (also then sampled), with analog signal and / or in digital form. Or the x signal, e.g. acquired by sensors, it can also or only include the derivatives d <i> x / dt <i> and / or d <i> � / dt <i>

.

An athlete can react to resistance R * in various ways. Eg. fig. 1 shows (graph above) that during a simulation of the weight to be lifted the athlete is unable to push the resistant element with uniform speed, see curve xW, within two extremes [xa, xb] of the excursion corresponding to a time interval [ta, tb] of the year. In fact, note the deviation xdelt between the ideal curve xref and the actual one xW.

The graph below shows the constant resistance R * set by the machine 50.

The curve xW is sampled and analyzed by the unit 70, 72. In particular, a new response Rnewin can be programmed as a function of xWe / or xdelta, and eg. provide for a stretch D with lower resistance for the resistance Rnewn in the stretch [xa -xb], in order to compensate for the muscle weakness in that stretch and assist the athlete.

Having the xWe curve / or xdelta values (and / or the relative time derivatives) in the machine 50 then allows you to program the dynamic response of the resistant element by adapting it sample by sample to the athlete's personal xW curve.

Each Rnewo curve the parameters for its automatic generation are programmable by the user through the unit 70, 72 eg. by entering data and values with the help of the keyboard 68 and / or the display 66 (e.g. touch-screen), or by loading a programming from an archive or from an external unit.

Samples are viewable eg. in a single-variable or multiple-variable graph, at the operator's choice, on display 66. The programming of these parameters can be carried out using the menu on display 66.

The stored samples can be compared with the ideal reference curve xrefo a pre-programmed curve (and available e.g. in memory 80) in a customized way, e.g. to calculate an xdelta offset. By controlling or generating the resistance R * as a function of the result obtained from the comparison, e.g. through programs that run in unit 72, machine 50 can act as a personal trainer. For the calculation of the deviation xdeltasi can use eg. the simple algebraic difference between the digitized numerical values of xrefe xW, or any mathematical norm or metric or mathematical function or algorithm.

It is sufficient to program the criteria for generating the Rnew curve, eg. with therapeutic parameters, to make the machine 50 autonomous in managing a rehabilitation or training program, without the use of a supervisory or expert person.

In particular, the resistance R offered by the resistant element can be calculated using a mathematical model applied to the signal, or on stored samples of xWe / or xdelta, which for example take into account the age, gender and general physical condition of the athlete (eg data entered in unit 72 via keyboard 68).

The resistance R * can be checked to replicate a trend of x or � that generated the previously stored signal or a replica of it scaled by programmable coefficients. Or you can set a training methodology for which the unit 72 automatically generates, eg. randomly, a resistant response R * and then the xW signal is stored during the user's activity on the element. According to the user's actual response xW, the unit 72 can decide whether to keep the previous R * curve or modify it in a programmed or random way.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a machine in which the Mot engine drives a resistant element 98 in both directions of the excursion. Here the element 98 is an oscillating arm with two sleeves between which to insert an arm or a leg. Both in extension and in bending the limb tests the controlled resistance of the Mot motor.

It is also possible to program a unit 70, preferably also to associate or integrate the elements 66, 68 with it, to create an independent module to be applied to a pre-existing system or machine, in order to improve a known machine by giving it all the new operating methods that can be obtained. with the strategy described here. The module requires only the connection of the input line 62 and the output line 90.

In general, acquisitions of x can be performed as initial data on repetitive user actions. By examining and processing the acquisitions, an optimal machine set-up can then be determined to perform a specific training exercise.

The numerical processing of signals can be achieved with known programming techniques.

Although the examples concern signals and calculations in the digital domain, it is possible to put the invention into practice even with analog signals.

Claims (10)

"MACHINE FOR PHYSICAL EXERCISE" CLAIMS 1. Method performed in a device or machine (50) for physical exercise, characterized by storing in real time in a memory (80) a signal (x) containing information relating to the user's action on the machine while he is performing an exercise. Method according to claim 1, wherein it is stored by sampling. 3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, in which the machine has a resistance element which is movable by a user through muscular force with a certain excursion, and a signal is stored in real time containing information relating to the movement of the element during the excursion operated by a user. 4. Method according to claim 3, in which the information includes the position taken by the element during the excursion and / or one or more time derivatives of the position trend. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the behavior of the machine is controlled as a function of the stored signal. 6. Method according to claim 3 or 4, in which the resistance offered by the resistant element is checked as a function of the stored signal. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the stored signal is compared with a reference curve, and the resistance and / or said behavior is controlled as a function of the result obtained from the comparison. 8. Method according to claim 7, in which the resistance offered by the resistant element is determined using a mathematical model applied to the stored signal and / or to the result of said comparison. 9. Method according to one of the previous claims 3 to 8, in which a resistant response is automatically generated for the element and then said signal is stored during the user's activity on the element. 10. Device or machine (50) for physical exercise comprising a memory, and an acquisition circuit or means for acquiring and storing in real time in the memory a signal containing information relating to the user's action on the machine while he is executing an exercise.