JP3427028B2 - Walking sensation presentation device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a walking sensation presentation device used for measuring the ability of a human to walk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A walking sensation presentation device presents a walking sensation using a conveyor-like device called a treadmill. In a treadmill, a person stands on a conveyor belt and walks on a circulating belt to simulate the actual walking state of a person.

This walking sensation presentation device can be combined with a display means for displaying an image according to the walking of the user, or can be combined with sound or air conditioning equipment to construct an environment simulation system.

As a conventional technique of a treadmill, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-0712216, "Independent Treadmill", Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 09-233464, "A picture associated with the speed is attached to the front, and the track surface is in the front and rear and oblique directions. There is a treadmill that can be tilted to the left and the road surface speed follows the speed of the runner. "And Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-277178," Treadmill tilting device ".

The treadmill disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-0712216 is the most general treadmill, and the track surface is always horizontal. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-23346
The treadmill disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-277178 can simulate a slope by inclining the treadmill itself.

[0006]

However, the above treadmill cannot simulate uneven road surfaces other than slopes. In particular, in the environment simulation system, it is necessary to simulate various environments, and for this reason, a walking sensation presentation device capable of presenting a walking sensation by simulating various terrains and road surfaces is expected.

An object of the present invention is to provide a walking sensation presentation device capable of generating an arbitrary road surface shape.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of cylindrical support rollers 5 arranged substantially horizontally and in parallel with each other, and a plurality of support rollers 5 wound around the support rollers 5 are wound around the belt. An endless belt 6 for mounting a user on the upper surface 6a is provided in parallel with each support roller 5 in pairs with each support roller 5, and the belt 6 is provided together with the support roller 5 forming the pair. A roller holder 13 for axially supporting a plurality of push-up rollers 7 sandwiched under 6 and the pair of support rollers 5 and push-up rollers 7 at both left and right ends.
And the moving support means 8 for individually moving and supporting the roller holders 13 up and down, and the vertical position of each moving support means 8 to control the belt upper surface 6a to the set predetermined road surface shape. In addition, the walking sensation presentation device is characterized by further comprising: a control unit that circulates the belt so that the belt upper surface 6a moves rearward and presents a walking sensation to the user.

According to the present invention, the walking sensation presentation device includes a plurality of support rollers 5 around which a belt is wound. A roller holder 13 that axially supports the paired support roller 5 and the push-up roller 7 at both left and right ends is supported by the roller movement support means so as to be individually movable up and down. Therefore, the belt upper surface 6a on which the user rides can be formed into an arbitrary shape by controlling the vertical position of each roller by the control means. In this way, an arbitrary road surface shape can be generated.

The control means of the present invention according to claim 2 is
The vertical position of each roller holder 13 is controlled by the movement supporting means so that the set road surface shape moves backward at the same speed as the moving speed of the belt.

According to the present invention, the upper surface of the belt is controlled so as to maintain the set surface shape and move backward at the same speed as the moving speed of the belt. The roller holder 13 is moved up and down by individual moving and supporting means. For example, a plurality of unevenness is formed vertically by the rollers to make the upper surface of the belt wavy, and each roller is moved up and down to move the uneven waves backward. The roller is controlled like a traveling wave. Then, by controlling the moving speed of the wave and the moving speed of the belt to be equal, the user feels as if he or she is walking on a wavy road surface when riding on the belt and walking along with the belt. To be In other words, by moving an arbitrary road surface shape backward along with the belt, it is possible to simulate a state when walking on an arbitrary terrain.

The present invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that display means is provided in front of the eyes of the user who rides on the upper surface of the belt, for displaying an image which changes according to the moving speed of the belt.

According to the present invention, for example, a screen for displaying an image is provided in front of the user, or an HMD (hea
d mound display), and presenting to the user an image such as a scene that moves in accordance with the movement of the belt,
The user can obtain a walking sensation closer to reality.

[0014]

1 is a perspective view showing a usage state of a walking sensation presentation system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The walking sensation presentation system 1 includes a treadmill 2, a display unit 3, and a control unit 4 that controls these. The walking sensation presentation device 1 is a device that presents a walking sensation to a user 12 who rides on a treadmill 2. The walking sensation presentation device 1 is further combined with a sound, an air conditioner, a wind tunnel, or the like to provide an environment simulation system. Is built.

The treadmill 2 has a support roller 5, a belt 6, a push-up roller 7 and a support cylinder 8 and is controlled by the control means 4. The support roller 5 is, for example, a cylindrical roller having an outer diameter of about 50 to 200 mm and a length of about 1 m. A plurality of, for example, 15 to 20, and in the present embodiment, 9 of the support rollers 5 are arranged substantially horizontally at equal intervals, for example, in parallel with a gap of about 30 mm. An endless belt 6 is wrapped around the nine support rollers 5. The belt 6 is made of, for example, rubber, has flexibility and elasticity, and is wound around each roller 5 in a tensioned state. Further, among the plurality of support rollers 5, in this embodiment, the roller 5a arranged at the rearmost side serves as a drive roller, and by rotating the drive roller 5a, the belt 6 is moved so that the belt upper surface 6a moves rearward. Drives in circulation.

The push-up rollers 7 have the same shape as the support rollers 5, and one push-up roller 7 is provided for each support roller 5. Then, the corresponding support rollers 5 are arranged in parallel with the support roller 5 so as to sandwich the belt 6.
The support roller 5 and the push-up roller 7 forming a pair are pivotally supported by roller holders 13 provided at both left and right ends.

A pressing roller 10 is provided at the upper end of each roller holder 13. The pressing roller 10 is a small roller having a rotation axis parallel to the rotation axis of the support roller 5, and sandwiches the belt 6 with the support roller 5 on both sides in the width direction of the belt 6.

The support roller 5 and the push-up roller 7 are connected via the roller holder 13 to the support cylinder 8
It is movably supported up and down. The support cylinder 8 is composed of a hydraulic cylinder in the present embodiment, has a stroke amount of about 100 to 500 mm, and is erected and fixed on the base 15. By individually expanding and contracting these support cylinders 8 up and down,
The vertical positions of the support roller 5 and the push-up roller 7 are individually controlled.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG.
By adjusting the height of the support roller 5 so that the support roller 5 is arranged in a wave shape, the shape of the belt upper surface 6a on which the user 12 rides can be made a wave shape. In this way, by setting the road surface shape in the control means 4,
The road surface shape of the treadmill 2 can be any shape. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, even when the upper surface of the belt 6 has a wavy shape, the pressing roller 10 presses the widthwise both sides of the upper surface of the belt 6 so that the belt 6 is lifted from the support roller 5. Therefore, the belt upper surface 6a, which is the road surface, can be reliably run along the support roller 5.

On the lower side of the belt 6, since the belt 6 is pressed against the support roller 5 by the push-up roller 7, even if the support roller 5 is moved up and down, the belt 6 is surely brought into contact with the support roller 5 and stable. The belt 6 can be circulated and driven. Further, the pair of support cylinders 8 that support the left and right of the support roller 5 are not limited to the case of moving up and down at the same time, but can move up and down individually for left and right,
This allows the road surface to be tilted to the left and right. As described above, the piston rod of the support cylinder 8 and the roller holder 13 are connected by a hinge or a universal joint so as to allow angular displacement so that the left and right inclinations are allowed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of the control means 4. Although only the support cylinder 8 that moves the drive roller 5a up and down will be described here, the other control cylinders 8 have the same control configuration.

The support cylinder 8 is a hydraulic cylinder, and hydraulic oil is supplied from the hydraulic pump P via the switching valve 15, and the discharged hydraulic oil is returned to the tank T. The control means 4 controls the switching valve 15 to switch the oil flow path to expand and contract the support cylinder 8.

A stroke sensor 16 for detecting the expansion / contraction amount of the support cylinder 8 is attached to the support cylinder 8. The control means 4 uses the stroke sensor 16
The switching valve 15 is controlled so that the drive roller 5a is arranged at a predetermined height based on the detection value of. The drive roller 5 a is rotationally driven by the drive source 17, and the rotation speed of the drive roller 5 a is controlled by the control means 4 that controls the drive source 17. The control means 4 also controls the display means 3.

The display means 3 has a display screen in front of the user 12 who rides on the treadmill 2, and the scenery seen when the user 12 is walking is shown by a live image or a computer graphic, and the moving speed of the belt 6 is shown. It is displayed as a video that matches the. The display means 3 is realized by, for example, a liquid crystal display, a CRT, or a liquid crystal projector.

Next, the movement of the support roller 5 will be described with reference to FIG. The walking sensation presentation device 1 of the present invention can generate an arbitrary road surface shape by adjusting the height of the support roller 5, and further, by sending the generated road surface like a traveling wave by the control means 4. The user 12 can feel as if he is walking on an uneven road surface.

In FIG. 4, movements of the support roller 5 and the belt 6 when a road surface following a sine curve is generated will be described. It is assumed that the belt 6 simultaneously reproduces a sine curve for one cycle.

First, in the initial state, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the support rollers 5 are arranged so that a sine curve of one cycle with both ends raised is generated. At this time, the position of the apex of the front end of the belt 6 is A.
The control means 4 controls the vertical position of the support roller 5 by the support cylinder 8 so that such a sinusoidal road surface travels rearward, and circulates the belt 6 in accordance with the traveling speed of the road surface. .

Here, FIG. 4B shows a state in which the phase has advanced 90 ° backward from the initial state (a), and FIG.
(D) shows a state advanced by 270 °, and (e) shows a state advanced by 360 °. As shown in these drawings, the support roller 5 is controlled by the control means 4 so that the road surface is sequentially fed rearward, and the belt 6 also moves in accordance with the progress of the road surface. That is, the position indicated by A on the belt 6 is always at the apex of the sine curve.

As described above, by controlling the support cylinders 8 and the drive source 17 so that the support rollers 5 move, the user 12 can feel as if he / she was actually walking on an uneven road surface. . Such a road surface is not limited to a sine curve and can be set to any shape.

The present invention is not limited to the case of forming such a traveling wave, and as shown in, for example, FIG. 5A, the height of the support roller 5 becomes higher toward the front. By arranging the support roller 5 fixedly and driving only the belt 6, the user 12 can feel as if he / she is going up a slope.

Further, as shown in (b), a downward slope can be formed by arranging the supporting roller 5 so that the supporting roller 5 is lowered toward the front.

Further, as shown in (c), only the belt 6 may be driven in a state in which the support rollers 5 are alternately arranged in a vertically fixed manner.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the walking sensation providing apparatus 1 includes a user 12 walking on the treadmill 2.
Is provided with a front position detector 20 for detecting that it is ahead of a predetermined position, and a rear position detector 21 for detecting that it is behind a predetermined position. In response to the detection output of 21, the control means 4 controls the speed of the belt 6. The speed of the belt 6 is controlled, for example, in the range of 0 to 20 km / hour, and is normally controlled so that the belt 6 moves at a walking speed of about 3 to 5 km / hour. In such a controlled state, for example, when the walking speed of the user 12 increases, the user 12 moves forward on the treadmill 2 and is detected by the front position detector 20,
It is determined that the walking speed of the user 12 has increased, and the control unit 4 increases the moving speed of the belt 6. On the contrary, when the walking speed of the user 12 becomes slow, the position of the user 12 moves backward, and the rear position detector 21 detects this. In response to this, the control means 4 reduces the moving speed of the belt 6. By controlling in this way, the belt 6 is controlled at an optimum speed according to the walking speed of the user 12.

Further, when the support cylinder 8 is controlled so that the road surface set as described above travels like a traveling wave, the support is carried out so that the road surface moves in accordance with the traveling speed of the belt 6. The moving speed of the cylinder 8 is also controlled. Further, the image displayed on the display means 3 is also changed according to the speed of the belt 6.

Further, the walking sensation presentation device 1 is provided not only with such a combination of the treadmill 2 and the display means 3 but also with a plurality of speakers, for example, to provide sound according to the image to be displayed. Furthermore, this device is installed in the wind tunnel,
By presenting an artificial environment such as rain or wind and controlling the temperature with an air conditioner, it is possible to construct an environment simulation system that is closer to the actual environment.

In the present embodiment, the display screen is provided on the front surface of the user 12 as the display means.
The present invention is not limited to such a form, and for example, the user 12
It may be configured by an HMD mounted on the head of the person.

In the walking sensation presentation device 1 described above,
Although the display means 3 and the treadmill 2 are combined and described as an apparatus for presenting the environment, the present invention is not limited to such an application, and, for example, the treadmill 2 alone is used to measure the physical strength of the user, for example. May be used for Also in this case, by moving the set road surface shape like a traveling wave, it is possible to measure physical strength when traveling on an uneven road surface.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, the belt 6
The support rollers 5 are wrapped around by the support rollers 5, and a plurality of parallel push-up rollers 7 forming a pair with the support rollers 5 sandwich the belt 6 below the belt 6 and push the support rollers 5 forming a pair. By moving the left and right roller holders 13 that pivotally support the raising roller 7 up and down efficiently by the movement supporting means 8, it is possible to generate an arbitrary road surface shape. Further, according to the present invention, the push-up roller 7 is provided below the belt 6.
Since the belt 6 is sandwiched and pressed against the supporting roller 5, the roller holder 13 is individually moved up and down by the moving and supporting means 8, and even if the supporting roller 5 is moved up and down, the belt 6 is reliably supported. By contacting the roller 5, the belt 6 can be stably driven to circulate.
Since the moving support means 8 individually moves the roller holders 13 up and down, it is not limited to the case where the left and right ends of the support roller 5 and the push-up roller 7 move up and down at the same time. It is possible to tilt the road surface to the left and right.

Further, according to the present invention, by controlling the roller up and down so that the set road surface shape moves rearward, and by controlling so that the belt moves at the same speed as the rearward movement, It is possible to provide the user with the sensation as if he / she were actually walking on an uneven road surface.

Further, according to the present invention, by providing the user with the image corresponding to the moving speed of the belt on the display means, the user can feel as if he / she is walking.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a usage state of a walking sensation presentation device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a treadmill 2.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of a walking sensation presentation device 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing operations of a support roller 5 and a belt 6.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement state of support rollers 5.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Walking sensation presentation device 2 treadmill 3 display means 4 Control means 5 Support roller 6 belts 7 Push-up roller 8 Support cylinder

Front page continued (72) Inventor Isamu Morita 3-1-1 Higashikawasaki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. Inside the Kobe factory (72) Inventor Tetsuji Kinashi 2-4-1 Hamamatsu-cho, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. World Trade Center Building Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. Tokyo Head Office (56) Reference JP 2001-61992 (JP, A) JP 10-108884 (JP, A) JP 8-763 (JP, A) JP Hei 2-36531 (JP, Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A63B 22/02 A63B 22/06

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of cylindrical support rollers arranged substantially horizontally and in parallel, and an endless belt which is wrapped around the plurality of support rollers and carries a user on an upper surface of the belt. A plurality of push-up rollers that are paired with the support rollers and are provided in parallel to the respective support rollers, and sandwich the belt together with the support rollers forming the pair under the belt, and the support rollers forming the pair and the push-up rollers. Roller holders that respectively support the rollers at both left and right ends, moving support means that individually move the roller holders up and down to support them, and control the vertical position of each moving support means to control the belt. A walking sensation presentation characterized by comprising a control means for presenting a walking sensation to the user by circulating the belt so that the upper surface of the belt has a set predetermined road surface shape and moving the upper surface of the belt backward. apparatus. 2. The control means controls the vertical position of each roller holder by the movement support means so that the set road surface shape moves rearward at the same speed as the moving speed of the belt. The walking sensation presentation device according to claim 1. 3. The walking sensation presentation according to claim 1, wherein display means for displaying an image that changes according to the moving speed of the belt is provided in front of the eyes of the user who rides on the upper surface of the belt. apparatus.