JP5016418B2 - Massage machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a massage machine that is arranged on a backrest of a chair and performs massage on an arbitrary portion on the back of a human body.

  Conventionally, there has been provided a massage machine that can be freely moved up and down on the back of a chair so that massage can be performed on any part of the back of the human body. In performing massage by moving the child up and down, front and rear, left and right, the conventional one only moves the treatment element based on the predetermined front and rear direction, so depending on the part on the back of the human body, On the other hand, it gives massage power from an oblique direction.

It is possible to change the direction of the force applied to the back of the human body by arranging a treatment element at the tip of the arm that is supported so that it can rotate freely, and the arm rotates in a form that follows the shape of the back of the human body. However, since the arm rotation fulcrum is only moved in a specified direction as operation control, even if the same movement is given to the arm rotation fulcrum, Depending on the part, the treatment element cannot apply an appropriate force to the human body.
JP 2006-129906 A

  The present invention has been invented in view of the above-described conventional problems, and is to provide a massage machine capable of performing massage by applying force in an appropriate direction to each part of a user. It is to be an issue.

In order to solve the above problems, a massage machine according to the present invention includes a driving unit that drives a treatment element that contacts the back of the human body at least in the vertical direction and the front-rear direction, and the vertical position and the front-rear direction position of the treatment element. According to the vertical position obtained by the vertical position obtained by the detection means for detecting the position of the treatment element, a table that defines an operation direction substantially orthogonal to the human body surface according to the vertical position of the treatment element, and the vertical position detection means. The direction of movement of the treatment element relative to the back of the human body is read from the table and determined in a direction substantially orthogonal to the body surface of the human body, and the driving direction is determined by driving the driving means. And a control means for operating the treatment element in the direction of movement. Regardless of where the human body part is to be massaged, it is possible to apply a force in a direction almost perpendicular to the body surface.

  At this time, it is provided with force detection means for detecting the force applied by the treatment element to the human body, and the control means is based on a deviation between a preset target massage force and the force detected by the force detection means. It is preferable to control the operating amount of the treatment element. Not only the direction of the force but also the magnitude of the force can be controlled.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the control means corrects the operation direction of the treatment element based on the correlation between the longitudinal position of the treatment element and the force detected by the force detection means. When the motion direction determined by the motion direction determination means is not appropriate, this can be automatically corrected.

  Further, in the case where the treatment elements are paired on the left and right and the driving means is provided with an interval changing section for changing the interval between the pair of treatment elements, the control means includes the front-rear direction position of the treatment element and the force detection means. It is preferable that the distance between the pair of treatment elements is corrected based on the correlation with the force detected in step (b). The width difference between the shoulder and the waist can be automatically corrected.

  The present invention can perform massage by applying force in a direction substantially orthogonal to the body surface for each part of the user, and always obtain a massage in which force is applied in an appropriate direction. it can.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. A massage machine 1 shown in FIG. 2 includes a massage mechanism 2 that can move up and down along a frame 11 arranged vertically in a backrest 10 of a chair. The massage mechanism 2 is provided with an arm 21 that can be pivoted up and down on the front side (front side of the backrest), and a treatment element 22 at the tip of the arm 21. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the massage mechanism 2 includes an actuator A1 for moving up and down and an actuator A2 for rotating the arm 21, and moving up and down by the actuators A1 and A2. Encoders E1 and E2 for detecting the displacement of the treatment element 22 due to the rotation of 21 are provided.

  In addition to the actuators A1 and A2, the massage mechanism 2 includes one or a plurality of actuators (not shown) for causing the treatment element 22 to perform, for example, a rice bran massage operation. A description of the actuator is omitted. The actuator A2 may also serve as an actuator (a part of) for causing a massage operation.

Now, as shown in FIG. 2, the vertical direction along the backrest is defined as the y axis, the direction connecting the backrest and the back of the human body is defined as the x axis and the coordinate system, and the massage mechanism 2 (in the vertical direction driven by the actuator A1) Q1 is the vertical displacement amount of the rotation center of the arm 21), q2 is the rotation variation amount from the x axis of the arm 21 that is rotationally driven by the actuator A2, and the distance from the rotation center of the arm 21 to the treatment element 22 ( Assuming that the length of the arm 21 is L and the position of the treatment element 22 is (x, y), the position (x, y) of the treatment element 22 is obtained from the displacements q1 and q2 obtained as outputs of the encoders E1 and E2. Next operation x = Lcosq2 y = q1 + Lsinq2
Can be obtained.

  The control circuit C that controls the operation of the actuators A1 and A2 and the massage actuator controls the direction of movement of the massager 20 for massage based on the calculated position (x, y) of the massager 22. To do. That is, for the sake of simplicity, taking the case where the massage is acupressure massage that presses the human body as an example, the acupressure massage is performed by advancing the treatment element 22, but the actuators A1 and A2 are operated together. The forward direction is controlled by changing the two values of x and y, and the back of the human body is advanced in a direction substantially perpendicular to the body surface as shown in FIG. At this time, it is preferable to correct the point where the y position changes simultaneously when the arm 21 is rotated to change the x position of the treatment element 1.

  What direction should be advanced may be dealt with by providing an operation direction determining means for determining the operation direction according to the y position. As the operation direction determining means, the operation direction is determined in advance according to the y position. It is possible to suitably use a table prepared by reading out the operation direction corresponding to the obtained y position from the table. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the obtained y position is first classified into a neck position, a shoulder position, a back position or a waist position, and the treatment element 22 is advanced in a direction set according to each position. There may be.

  In the massage machine having a function of sensing the back shape of the human body, a massage machine that determines the forward direction according to the sensing result and the y position can be suitably used. For example, if it is determined by sensing that the shape of the back of the human body is a curved line T as shown in FIG. 22 is set to a forward direction.

  The sensing is performed when the treatment element 22 is provided with a pressure sensor S such as a load cell that detects contact pressure with the human body, and the treatment element 22 is moved up and down in a protruding state (advancing state). It is possible to change the advancement state of the treatment element 22 so that the contact pressure between the treatment element 22 and the human body becomes constant when the treatment element 22 is moved up and down.

Further, since the forward direction of the treatment element 22 changes depending on the y position as described above, the following control may be performed when the actuators A1 and A2 are operated by speed control. That is, the displacements q1 and q2 and the position (x, y) of the treatment element 22 are in the relationship represented by the above equation. Lsinq2) dx)
It becomes. However, dq1, dq2, dx, and dy represent the derivatives of q1, q2, x, and y, respectively. As shown in FIG. 6, when it is desired to generate the velocity (dx, dy) of the treatment element 22 in the direction of 45 ° from the x axis, the ratio of dx, dy is set to 1: 1 and the direction of the treatment element 22 is set. Can be controlled. That is, by changing the ratio of dx and dy, the operation direction of the treatment element 22 can be arbitrarily set to perform speed control.

Here, in the case where the force sensor S is arranged on the treatment element 22 as described above so that the massage force for the user can be detected, as shown in FIG. 7, the detected massage force F is detected. Target massage force Fd so that becomes the preset target massage force Fd
By determining the drive amount of each actuator based on the deviation from the detected massage force F, the control circuit C controls the massage force in addition to the direction, and the direction and strength of the user are controlled. Both can be controlled.

  If the massage mechanism 2 can change the position of the treatment element 22 also in the left-right direction, an encoder capable of detecting the left-right position of the treatment element 22 is added. Of course, the direction control including the left-right direction may be performed. In this case, the force can be applied from the treatment element 22 in a direction completely orthogonal to the back surface of the user. In addition, if massage can be performed on the neck of the user, a more effective massage can be obtained in which the subject is sandwiched from the left and right while being pushed upward while being pushed forward.

  By the way, for the upper surface of the human body's shoulder, it is not an effective massage if it is not pressed from behind but from above, but if the back shape of the human body is sensed as described above, the position of the shoulder is determined. Then, the direction can be controlled to push from above. However, when the direction is simply controlled according to the y position, the direction is usually controlled according to the coordinates of each part of an average body type person. Depending on the body shape, it is not possible to properly switch to massage from above on the shoulder. In this case, in addition to the x and y position information of the treatment element 22, the output of the force sensor S is used in combination, and even if the advancement position of the treatment element 22 exceeds the predetermined position Xa as shown in FIG. When the output does not exceed the predetermined value Fa, it can be dealt with by correcting the operating direction of the treatment element 22 downward, assuming that the treatment element 22 is located above the shoulder.

  Furthermore, the treatment element 22 is composed of a pair of left and right treatment elements, and the massage mechanism part 2 includes an interval changing unit for changing the interval (width) between the pair of treatment elements 22 as shown in FIG. As described above, if the output of the force sensor S does not exceed the predetermined value Fb even when the advancement position of the treatment element 22 reaches or exceeds the predetermined position Xb, the treatment element 22 is at the waist or back position narrower than the shoulder or the like. If the operation for narrowing the interval (width) of the treatment element 22 is performed, it is possible to automatically cope with the difference in the width of each part of the human body and the individual difference.

It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of an example of embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing same as the above. It is a block circuit diagram same as the above. It is a flowchart of operation | movement same as the above. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of another example. It is another operation explanatory drawing same as the above. It is explanatory drawing of feedback control same as the above. It is a flowchart of another operation | movement same as the above. It is a flowchart of another operation | movement same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Massage machine 2 Massage mechanism 21 Arm 22 Treatment child

Claims (4)

Drive means for driving the treatment element in contact with the back of the human body at least in the vertical direction and the front-rear direction, detection means for detecting the vertical position and the front-rear direction position of the treatment element, and the vertical position of the treatment element The table determines the direction of movement substantially perpendicular to the body surface of the human body, and reads the direction of movement of the treatment element relative to the back of the human body from the table according to the vertical position obtained by the vertical position detection means. An operation direction determining means for determining in a direction substantially perpendicular to the body surface of the human body; and a control means for driving the driving means to operate the treatment element in the operation direction determined by the operation direction determining means. A massage machine characterized by   Force detecting means for detecting the force applied to the human body by the treatment element is provided, and the control means is based on a deviation between a preset target massage force and the force detected by the force detection means. The massage machine according to claim 1, wherein the operating amount is controlled.   3. The massage machine according to claim 2, wherein the control means corrects the operation direction of the treatment element based on the correlation between the position of the treatment element in the front-rear direction and the force detected by the force detection means.   The treatment elements are paired on the left and right sides, and the driving means includes an interval changing unit that changes the interval between the pair of treatment elements. The control means is detected by the position of the treatment element in the front-rear direction and the force detection means. 3. The massage machine according to claim 2, wherein the distance between the pair of treatment elements is corrected based on the correlation with the force.

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