WO2004002579A1

WO2004002579A1 - Exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer-video game

Info

Publication number: WO2004002579A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/001256
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sang Ho Kim
Original assignee: Humus Mog Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2002-06-26
Filing date: 2003-06-26
Publication date: 2004-01-08
Also published as: AU2003244254A1

Abstract

Disclosed is an exercising apparatus capable of simultaneously playing a computer or video game while taking exercise. The exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer-video game, comprises a body of the exercising apparatus with a backrest; a fixed bar horizontally fixed to the body; pivoting arms connected through hinges to both ends of the fixed bar to pivot in response to motions of a user; shock absorbers for connecting the respective pivoting arms to the fixed bar to provide resistant loads corresponding to the displacement of the pivoting arms; rotation angle detection units installed at portions where the pivoting aims and the fixed bar are connected through the hinges so as to detect rotation angles of the respective pivoting arms; a resilient member installed in the backrest for providing a resistant load corresponding to flexure of the backrest; and an elastic displacement detection unit for detecting the deformation displacement of the resilient member. The exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer-video game according to the present invention can be connected to a game unit such as a computer to control playing of a game according to flexure of a backrest or motions of pivoting arms. Therefore, it is possible to perform realistic game control through physical motions while training a user's body, thereby maximizing interest in exercise and improving the effects of exercise.

Description

EXERCISING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF PLAYING A COMPUTER-VIDEO

GAME

Technical Field The present invention relates to an exercising apparatus, and more particularly, to an exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer- video game, wherein motions of the exercising apparatus are transmitted to an external game unit to control a game in progress.

Background Art

People who take exercise regularly have increased in amount as they take interests in the promotion of health and the improvement of their figures. However, thriving towns have limitation on spaces where people can properly take exercise, and there are only few such spaces in the towns. Further, they avoid outdoor exercise in consideration of environmental pollution that has become a social issue. For these reasons, they tend to take exercise indoors. Due to such a tendency, exercising apparatuses for indoor exercise have been continuously developed. Such exercising apparatuses for indoor exercise include bench presses, running machines, health bikes, and the like. However, since users utilizing such indoor exercising apparatuses should repeatedly take simple exercise in limited spaces, they are difficult to steadily take exercise and may easily lose interest in exercise even while taking exercise. That is, although indoor exercising apparatuses have an advantage in that users can take exercise at any places without limitation on places, there is a problem in that they may easily lose interest in exercise and be difficult to achieve the desired object of exercise since the strong will is required.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is conceived to solve the aforementioned problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an exercising apparatus for allowing a user to play a computer or video game through exercise so that the user can pleasantly take exercise.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exercising apparatus that can be connected to conventional game units such as computer and video game machines so as to be adapted to conventional different games and thus can be properly applied to a variety of games that are currently continuously developed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an exercising apparatus that helps youths to promote their physical strength by adding dynamic exercise factors to static computer and video games.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the objects, an exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer- video game comprises a body, a resilient member mounted on the body for providing a resistant load corresponding to the displacement of the exercising apparatus, and an elastic displacement detection unit for detecting the deformation displacement of the resilient member. The exercising apparatus can be applied to a bench press and the like that are used for training bodily regions such as arms, legs and a waist. The relevant bodily regions such as arms, legs and a waist can be trained through working together with the exercising apparatus, and the amount of motions of the relevant bodily regions can be detected as electrical signals by using the resilient displacement detection unit. Using the detected electrical signals, the exercising apparatus can serve as an interface for controlling an external game unit connected thereto.

The resilient member includes a hollow spring. The spring may be attached to the body to be interlocked therewith or used as a connection member for making a connection between parts of the body. Further, the elastic displacement detection unit comprising a sensor housing, a sensor bar and a sensor encoder may be mounted on one end of the spring in order to detect the elastic displacement of the spring. The sensor housing is fixed to the body at the end of the spring and the sensor bar, like a joystick for an electronic game, is mounted on the sensor housing so as to determine whether the spring is bent or to measure a bent direction of the spring. The sensor encoder comprising a magnetic coil and the like is installed near a portion in which the sensor bar is accommodated. The sensor encoder detects the displacement of the sensor bar according to predetermined sensitivity^'.

The degree of bending of the spring varies according to the amplitude of a motion of a user. As the sensor bar disposed within the spring moves with the spring, it can detect the elastic displacement of the resilient member. At this time, a spherical sensor ball is mounted on an end of the sensor bar to improve a capability of detecting bent directions and to smooth the interlocking with the spring.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above objects, an exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer- video game comprises a body, a fixed bar fixed to the body, pivoting arms hingedly connected to both ends of the fixed bar, and shock absorbers connected to the fixed bar and the respective pivoting arms.

The exercising apparatus can be used for training the chest, back and arms of a human body. For example, a user can utilize the exercising apparatus in such a manner that the user leans his/her back to the body of the exercising apparatus, holds the pivoting arms on the both sides with his/her hands and then repeats motions of contracting and extending his/her arms as a whole.

To this end, the fixed bar is horizontally fixed to the body, and the pivoting arms are pivotably connected through hinges to the both ends of the fixed bar, respectively. Shock absorbers capable of pressure regulation can be used for providing and controlling exercise loads according to the motions of pivoting arms.

Supporting brackets are mounted on the both ends of the fixed bar, and a toggle bracket is mounted on an end of each pivoting arm. The supporting brackets are rotatably connected through the hinges to the respective toggle brackets, so that the pivoting arms are pivotably connected through the hinges to the fixed bar. To facilitate mounting and movement of the shock absorbers, the supporting brackets and the toggle brackets include protrusions protruding in the same direction, respectively, and both ends of each shock absorber are rotatably connected to the protrusions.

To use the exercising apparatus for the purpose of control of a game unit, a rotation angle detection unit may be installed at a portion where each pivoting arm is connected through the hinge to the fixed bar. The rotation angle detection unit can detect whether the relevant pivoting arm rotates, the rotation direction and a rotation angle of the pivoting arm, and the like. The game unit can determine the speed, direction control and the like of a game while the game is played, based on signals from the rotation angle detection units. According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above objects, an exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer- video game comprises a body with a backrest, a fixed bar, pivoting arms on both ends of the fixed bar, shock absorbers for connecting the respective pivoting arms to the fixed bar, rotation angle detection units for detecting rotation angles of the respective pivoting arms, a resilient member for providing a resistant load corresponding to flexure of the backrest, and an elastic displacement detection unit for detecting the deformation displacement of the resilient member.

The exercising apparatus is to measure the displacements of a motion of a user and can be used for applying the measured displacements to a game unit, such as the flexure of the backrest and characteristics of motions of the pivoting arms.

Contrary to a conventional exercising apparatus for simple training of physical strength, the exercising apparatus of the present invention considers functions of both the training of physical strength and a game control unit, and includes structures for providing a resistant load corresponding to the elastic displacement of the body of the exercising apparatus and to bidirectional displacement of the pivoting arms and for correctly detecting characteristics of motions of respective bodily regions.

The aforementioned exercising apparatus can be connected to external game units to control games played on the game units. They can also be connected to external networks through game units to be used for storage and exchange of exercise data and the like.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a view showing a use state of an exercising apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2a and 2b are sectional views illustrating a resilient member of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a view illustrating assembly of the resilient member of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an exercising apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial plan view of one of pivoting arms of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an exercising apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a backrest of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an articulation portion of one of pivoting arms of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged partial plan view illustrating the operation of the pivoting arms. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating the process of controlling a game unit by using the exercising apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

First embodiment FIG. 1 is a view showing a use state of an exercising apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2a and 2b are sectional views illustrating a resilient member of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view illustrating assembly of the resilient member of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 1. Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, an exercising apparatus 100 capable of playing a computer- video game according to the first embodiment comprises a body 110, a resilient member 130 and an elastic displacement detection unit 140. The body 110 comprises a first body 112 and a second body 114. A grip is formed at one end of the second body 114. A user holds the grip to move it in a fore and back direction or a right and left direction so that the user can train muscles of his/her arm. FIG 1 shows a portion of the exercising apparatus 100, which may be directly used for the training of arms or may be used in a state where the portion is attached to other exercising apparatuses.

The first and second bodies 112 and 114 are connected to each other through the resilient member 130. The resilient member 130 comprises a spring 132, a first connector 134 and a second connector 136. The first and second connectors 134 and 136 are fixed to both ends of the spring 132, respectively. The first connector 134 is screwed into the first body 112 and the second connector 136 is screwed into the second body 114, so that the resilient member 130 is mounted on the body 110.

When the user moves his/her arm in the fore and back direction or the right and left direction, the spring 132 of the resilient member 130 is bent in the movement direction and thus provides a resistant load corresponding to a force applied by the user. As shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, the elastic displacement detection unit 140 is installed at an end of the spring 132 adjacent to the first connector 134. The elastic displacement detection unit 140 comprises a sensor housing 142, a sensor bar 146, a sensor ball 144 and an encoder 148. The sensor housing 142 is fixed within the first connector 134 so that the elastic displacement detection unit 140 is fixed to the first connector 134. That is, the elastic displacement detection unit 140 is fixed to the first body 112 and thus can measure relative bending of the spring 132.

A portion of the sensor bar 146, which has the sensor ball 144 mounted on an end of the sensor bar, is accommodated in the sensor housing 142. The sensor bar 146 can move in the fore and back direction and the right and left direction with respect to the portion of the sensor bar accommodated in the sensor housing 142. Further, the encoder 148 is mounted within the sensor housing 142 to measure the movement of the sensor bar 146. Here, the diameter of the sensor ball 144 is smaller than an inner diameter of the spring 132.

The spring 132 is bent in response to a motion of the user, and the sensor ball 144 and the sensor bar 146 within the spring also move in the same direction as the spring. The spring 132 has a circular cross-section and can be bent in an arbitrary direction. Therefore, the sensor ball 144 for detecting the bending of the spring 132 is formed to take the shape of a sphere. The elastic displacement detection unit 140 can be connected to an external game unit (not shown). The movement of, the sensor bar 146 enables electrical detection of timing and directions of motions of the user. Signals of the motions go through a signal-processing unit and then are used for controlling a game unit.

In this embodiment, there is disclosed the arm exercising apparatus that comprises the resilient member 130 with the spring, and the elastic displacement detection unit 140 installed within the resilient member. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment but may be applied to apparatuses for training muscles of legs, a waist and the like.

Second embodiment

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an exercising apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial plan view of one of pivoting arms of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the exercising apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment comprises a body 210, a fixed bar 250, pivoting arms 260, and shock absorbers 270. The body 210 is vertically disposed, and a backrest 212 with cushion is mounted on the body at a position corresponding to the back of a user. The fixed bar 250 is horizontally mounted above the backrest 212.

The respective pivoting arms 260 are connected through hinges to both ends of the fixed bar 250. An end of each pivoting arm 260 protrudes toward the backside of the exercising apparatus 200 and each shock absorber 270 is rotatably connected to the protruding portion of the pivoting arm and the fixed bar 250.

The pivoting arms 260 and the shock absorbers 270 are disposed symmetrically in a right and left direction, respectively. The user brings his/her back into close contact with the backrest 212, holds grips 264 of the pivoting arms 260 with his/her hands, and repeats motions of contracting and extending his/her chest and arms as a whole.

The shock absorbers 270 may have a pressure-regulating function. The user can adjust an amount of an exercise load on him her by regulating the pressure. The shock absorbers 270 do not exhibit restoring forces to provide resistant forces in directions opposite to their moving directions.

To detect whether the pivoting arms 260 are pivoted and rotation angles thereof, rotation angle detection sensors S2 and S3 can be mounted at both side portions where the pivoting arms 260 are connected through the hinges to the fixed bar 250, respectively. The rotation angle detection sensors S2 and S3 can be connected to an external game unit through a signal-processing unit to control the game unit. That is, control such as direction control can be made in a game played on the game unit, based on the movement and rotation angle of each pivoting arm 260. Further, control such as speed control can be made based on the speed and the number of times of reciprocation of each pivoting arm 260.

Third embodiment

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an exercising apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a backrest of the exercising apparatus of FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an articulation portion of one of pivoting arms of FIG. 6, and FIG. 9 is an enlarged partial plan view illustrating the operation of the pivoting arms.

In this embodiment, the descriptions of the resilient member and the pivoting arms can be made with reference to the descriptions and figures of the previous embodiments. Therefore, descriptions overlapping with the descriptions of the previous embodiments will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 6, the exercising apparatus 300 according to the third embodiment comprises a body 310, a fixed bar 350, pivoting arms 360, shock absorbers 370, a resilient member 330, and an elastic displacement detection unit 340.

The body 310 comprises a first lower support 316 and two second lower supports 317. The first lower support 316 is generally S-shaped to form the center of the body 310. The two second lower supports 317 are disposed on both sides behind the first lower support 316 to support the first lower support 316 and the body 310. A seat 314 is mounted on the first lower support 316 so that a user can sit on the seat and then take exercise. A backrest 312 containing the resilient member 330 and the elastic displacement detection unit 340 is provided above the first lower support 316. A coupling bracket 318 for connection to an upper end of the resilient member 330 is provided above the backrest 312.

The fixed bar 350 is horizontally fixed to the coupling bracket 318. The coupling bracket 318 is coupled to the upper end of the resilient member 300 and the fixed bar 350, by means of screws. The coupling bracket 118 can be coupled to or disconnected from them by adjusting screwing forces for the screws.

L- shaped support brackets 355 are fixed to top surfaces of both ends of the fixed bar 350 by means of welding or screws. At this time, each support bracket 355 is disposed in such a manner that one end thereof is directed to the outside of the fixed bar and the other end thereof protrudes toward the backside of the exercising apparatus. A toggle bracket 365 having two hinge connection points and one fixing point is connected to each support bracket 355. One of the two hinge connection points of the toggle bracket is pivotably connected through a hinge to the support bracket 355, and the fixing point of the toggle bracket 365 is fixedly connected to an end of the relevant pivoting arm 360. Therefore, each pivoting arm 360 pivots on the hinge connection point of the support bracket 355 and the toggle bracket 365 in a right and left direction on a horizontal plane.

The rotation angle detection sensors S2 and S3 are mounted at the hinge connection points on which the support brackets 365 and the toggle brackets 365 pivot. The rotation angle detection sensor S2 and S3 may be connected to an external game unit through a signal-processing unit to control the game unit. That is, control such as direction control can be made in a game played on the game unit, based on the movement and rotation angle of each pivoting arm 360. Further, control such as speed control can be made based on the speed and the number of times of reciprocation of each pivoting arm 360. Each shock absorber 370 is mounted between the relevant pivoting am 360 and the fixed bar 350 to provide a resistant load on a motion of the pivoting arm 360. Specifically, the shock absorbers 370 are mounted symmetrically in the right and left direction, and each shock absorber 370 connects the other hinge connection point of the toggle bracket 365 to the portion of the support bracket 355 protruding toward the backside. The backrest 312 is constructed of a soft material and includes a bore vertically penetrating therethrough. The resilient member 330 is inserted into the bore to serve as a skeletal frame for supporting the backrest 312. The resilient member 330 comprises a spring 332, a first connector 334 and a second connector 336. The first and second connectors 334 and 336 are fixed to both ends of the spring 332. The first connector 334 is screwed into the first lower support 316, and the coupling bracket 318 is coupled to an upper end of the second connector 336.

When a user takes exercise while moving his/her waist in a fore and back direction or right and left direction, the spring 332 of the resilient member 330 is bent together with the soft backrest 312 in the direction of the motion of the waist. At this time, a restoring force of the resilient member 330 provides a resistant load against the user's force.

The elastic displacement detection unit 340 is mounted to the first connector 334 and positioned at a lower end of the spring 332. The elastic displacement detection unit 340 comprises a sensor housing 342, a sensor bar 346, a sensor ball 344 and an encoder 348. The sensor housing 342 is mounted to the first connector 334 and the sensor bar 346 and the sensor ball 344 are disposed within the spring 332 so as to detect the elastic displacement of the spring 332 (refer to FIGS. 2a and 2b).

That is, a portion of the sensor bar 346, which has the sensor ball 344 mounted on an end of the sensor bar, is accommodated in the sensor housing 342. The sensor bar 346 can move in the fore and back direction and the right and left direction with respect to the portion of the sensor bar accommodated in the sensor housing 342. Further, the encoder 348 is mounted within the sensor housing 342 to measure the movement of the sensor bar 346. Here, the diameter of the sensor ball 344 is smaller than an inner diameter of the spring 332. The spring 332 is bent in response to a motion of the user, and the sensor ball

344 and the sensor bar 346 within the spring also move in the same direction as the spring due to the bending of the spring 332. The spring 332 has a circular cross- section and can be bent in an arbitrary direction. Therefore, the sensor ball 344 for detecting the bending of the spring 332 is formed to take the shape of a sphere.

The exercising apparatus 300 can be used for control of a game unit as well as exercise for training the user's chest, arms and waist. That is, when the user plays an aircraft simulation game or racing game, the motion of the user's waist is detected by the elastic displacement detection unit 340 and used as commands for direction control, balance maintenance or the like. The movement of the user's arms and the repetition speed thereof are detected by the rotation angle detection units S2 and S3 and used as commands for speed control, a partial or full breaking function, direction control or the like.

To diversify command interfaces of the exercising apparatus 300, additional key input devices may be further installed at the grips of the pivoting arms 360. Accordingly, it is possible to realize various conditions such as a gear shift or an attack command.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating the process of controlling a game unit by using the exercising apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Although signals input into the game unit are processed in a software manner in this embodiment, the input signals may be processed using TTL logic in other embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, the exercising apparatus 300 includes the encoder 348 or SI for detecting a motion of the user's waist through the sensor bar 344, and the rotation angle detection units S2 and S3 for detecting characteristics of motions of the user's arms through the pivoting arms 360. The characteristics of the motions detected by the sensors SI to S3 are converted into electrical signals that can be read through the signal-processing unit 380 for performing amplification, filtering and the like. The electrical signals are transmitted to the game unit 390 through an I/O interface unit 392. The game unit 390 further comprises a display device 394 in addition to the I/O interface unit 392, and may contain its own game software therein or receive game data through connection to an external network in an online manner. The signal-processing unit 380 comprises an amplifier 382 for amplifying small-amplitude input signals, a filter unit 384 for filtering out- unnecessary signals such as noises, an S/H unit 386 for sampling filtered signals, an A/D converter 388 for converting sampled signals into digital signals, and a microprocessor (CPU) for transmitting the digital signals to the game unit and for controlling the above procedures. A player can sit on the seat 314 and repeatedly move the right and left pivoting arms 360. At this time, the player can promote physical strength through training of muscles of his/her chest and arms.

According to motions of the player, the rotation angle detection sensors S2 and S3 can simultaneously output characteristics of motions of the pivoting arms 360 that reciprocatingly pivot. The reciprocating speed and the number of times of reciprocation of the pivoting arms 360 may be used, for example, as a characteristic value for increasing or decreasing the speed in a speed increasing/decreasing game such as a racing game. Further, the motion of the user's waist can be detected by the elastic displacement detection unit 340 installed in the resilient member 330. Signals output from the sensor encoder 348 or SI may be used as a characteristic value for controlling ascent or descent of an aircraft in an aircraft simulation game that simulates, for example, flight of a fighting plane. For instance, the ascent of the aircraft may be caused to correspond to a motion of pulling back the upper part of the player's body and the descent of the aircraft may be caused to correspond to a motion of bowing the upper part of the player's body. Of course, the balance or direction of the aircraft may be controlled in such a manner that the player bends his/her body in the right and left direction. The game unit may be a computer with game software installed therein or a video game machine manufactured for game playing. Moreover, although the game unit may be connected to a single exercising apparatus for one player, άt may be connected to two or more exercising apparatuses to support multi-playing of a game by two or more players. In addition, two or more game units may be connected to an external network so that the game units can be connected to one another and then used. Signals output through the microprocessor (CPU) go through the I/O interface unit 392. The I/O interface unit 392 is used for the connection of the exercising apparatus to the game unit 390. For example, in case of the use of a conventional game unit, the I/O interface unit 392 can be used for connecting the exercising apparatus to a connection terminal of an input device such as an exclusive controller of a game unit or a computer keyboard or mouse.

According to the exercising apparatus of the present invention described above, actions are imparted to objects in a game application program, or values of keys in the application program are interrupted through pointing input so that the game application program can be subjected to batch processing and the values can be applied to a game. Further, there is an excellent advantage in that a player can play a funny game while taking exercise corresponding to the operation of levers.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the exemplified embodiments and the drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto. It will be apparent that those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can make various changes and modifications thereto. Therefore, the present invention should be construed only based on the appended claims and equivalents thereof will fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer- video game, comprising: a body of the exercising apparatus; a resilient member mounted on the body for providing a resistant load corresponding to a displacement of the exercising apparatus; and an elastic displacement detection unit for detecting an amount of a deformation displacement of the resilient member.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the resilient member includes a hollow spring, and the elastic displacement detection unit comprises a sensor housing provided at an end of the spring, a sensor bar with one end accommodated in the sensor housing and the other end disposed within the spring to move in response to the deformation of the resilient member, and a sensor encoder installed near the accommodated end of the sensor bar to detect the movement of the sensor bar and convert the movement into electrical signals.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein a sensor ball having a diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the spring is formed at the other end of the spring.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, the redilient member further including a first connector and a second connector provided at ends of the spring respectively, wherein the sensor housing is mounted on any one of the first and second connectors, and the first and second connectors are connected to the body to make connections between parts of the body.

5. An exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer- video game, comprising: a body of the exercising apparatus; a fixed bar horizontally fixed to the body; pivoting arms connected through hinges to both ends of the fixed bar to pivot in response to motions of a user; and shock absorbers for connecting the respective pivoting arms to the fixed bar to provide resistant loads corresponding to the displacement of the pivoting arms.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein support brackets are fixedly mounted on the both ends of the fixed bar, a toggle bracket is mounted on an end of each of the pivot arms, the support brackets and the toggle brackets are connected through hinges to be rotatable with respect to each other and to couple the pivoting arms to the fixed bar, and both ends of each of the shock absorbers are rotatably coupled to protrusions of the relevant support bracket and toggle bracket to provide the resistant load corresponding to the displacement of the relevant pivoting arm.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising rotation angle detection units installed at portions where the pivoting arms and the fixed bar are connected through the hinges, thereby detecting rotation angles of the respective pivoting arms.

8. An exercising apparatus capable of playing a computer- video game, comprising: a body of the exercising apparatus with a backrest; a fixed bar horizontally fixed to the body; pivoting arms connected through hinges to both ends of the fixed bar to pivot in response to motions of a user; shock absorbers for connecting the respective pivoting arms to the fixed bar to provide resistant loads corresponding to the displacement of the pivoting arms; rotation angle detection units installed at portions where the pivoting arms and the fixed bar are connected through the hinges, for detecting rotation angles of the respective pivoting arms; a resilient member installed in the backrest for providing a resistant load corresponding to flexure of the backrest; and an elastic displacement detection unit for detecting the deformation displacement of the resilient member.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein support brackets are fixedly mounted on the both ends of the fixed bar, a toggle bracket is mounted on an end of each of the pivot arms, the support brackets and the toggle brackets are connected through hinges to be rotatable with respect to each other and to couple the pivoting arms to the fixed bar, both ends of each of the shock absorbers are rotatably coupled to protrusions of the relevant support bracket and toggle bracket to provide the resistant load corresponding to the displacement of the relevant pivoting arm, and the rotation angle detection units are installed at portions where the respective support brackets and toggle brackets are connected through the hinges.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the resilient member includes a hollow spring, and the elastic displacement detection unit comprises a sensor housing provided at an end of the spring, a sensor bar having one end accommodated in the sensor housing and the other end disposed within the spring to move in response to deformation of the resilient member, and a sensor encoder installed near the accommodated one end of the sensor bar to detect the movement of the sensor bar and convert the movement into electrical signals.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein a sensor ball having a diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the spring is formed at the other end of the spring.

12. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising: a signal processing unit for processing signals output from the detection unit; a game unit electrically connected to the signal processing unit; and a display device for displaying an image output from the game unit.