Patent Application
20240024751
Exercise improves an individual's health. Strength training, also referred to as resistance training or weight lifting, is an important part of any exercise routine. It promotes the building of muscle, the burning of fat, and improvement of a number of metabolic factors including insulin sensitivity and lipid levels. Many users seek a more efficient and safe method of strength training and/or exercise. Other forms of exercise besides strength training include aerobic exercise which promotes endurance and improves the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and skilled exercise such as boxing which promotes endurance and improves hand-eye coordination and body awareness.
To better improve an individual's health, a strength training machine should be easily integrable with their home or office, which typically has limited physical space. To be efficient with physical space, power, and other resources, a strength training machine that can serve additional duty as an aerobic exercise machine and/or a skilled exercise machine like a boxing machine is an improvement in efficiency for the machine.
Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process; an apparatus; a system; a composition of matter; a computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium; and/or a processor, such as a processor configured to execute instructions stored on and/or provided by a memory coupled to the processor. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention. Unless stated otherwise, a component such as a processor or a memory described as being configured to perform a task may be implemented as a general component that is temporarily configured to perform the task at a given time or a specific component that is manufactured to perform the task. As used herein, the term ‘processor’ refers to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores configured to process data, such as computer program instructions.
A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. The invention is described in connection with such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.
Circuit training is one type of exercise/training comprising a variety of aerobic training, strength training, and exercises performed in a “circuit” of individual exercises, similar to high-intensity interval training. An improved circuit for circuit training involves boxing/punching bag training, such as speed bag training and heavy bag training. A speed bag or speedball is a mounted small inflated bag that rebounds after being struck with speed, requiring coordination and rhythm to hit the bag consecutively. Speed bag training develops skills, as punching a speed bag in a workout cadence requires a user's coordination, speed, and improves their cardiovascular system. A heavy bag is a mounted large bag filled with dense material, weighing approximately half the user's weight. Heavy bag training develops a user's strength, balance, and form as the user punches with resistance provided by the heavy bag.
An example of an improved circuit is one that includes bicep curls for two minutes, cardio kickboxing workout for two minutes, push-ups for two minutes, then a speed bag exercise for two minutes. An improved circuit training with a single machine is disclosed. The single machine may include a sensor and/or camera that determines the number of punches landed within the circuit, how hard punches are thrown within the circuit, form feedback included during the speed bag exercise, and aerobic health monitoring such as a heartrate monitor. In one embodiment, a boxing accessory comprises a marker visible to a camera. Another example of an improved training with the boxing accessory is a high-intensity interval training using a Tabata protocol with 20 seconds of intense exercise like repetitive speed bag punches, and 10 seconds of rest.
In one embodiment, the disclosed machine does not require special gloves like specialized boxing machines. The machine instead uses a sensor such as a cable sensor and/or camera to detect landed punch counts, landed punch strength, and form feedback. One example of form feedback is when the camera and/or sensor is used to determine a type of punch such as a jab, cross, hook, and/or uppercut, and based on the type of punch, boxing coaching may encourage better form for the respective type.
In one embodiment, the exercise machine provides a curriculum, wherein the curriculum comprises circuit training, and wherein providing the curriculum comprises at least one of the following: centralized storing of performance data pertaining to multiple exercises in the circuit; repetition-based boxing exercise interleaved with repetition-based strength training and/or repetition-based aerobic training; and speed training comprising a positioning arm associated with a boxing exercise and a second positioning arm associated with another exercise. For example, to make the setup of a circuit training set efficient, a first arm may be a speed bag station and a second arm may be a pull-up station.
The disclosed accessory may be used with exercise machines, including a machine where motor torque is associated with resistance, for example, using a digital strength training technique as described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,661,112 entitled DIGITAL STRENGTH TRAINING filed Jul. 20, 2017, and U.S. Pat. No. 10,335,626 entitled EXERCISE MACHINE WITH PANCAKE MOTOR filed Jul. 2, 2019, which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Any person of ordinary skill in the art understands that the disclosed accessory may be used without limitation with other exercise apparatus, and the digital strength trainer is given merely as an example embodiment.
In one embodiment, a three-phase brushless DC motor (106) is used with the following:
In some embodiments, the controller circuit (102, 104) is programmed to drive the motor in a direction such that it draws the cable (108) towards the motor (106). The user exerts force on the actuator connector (110) coupled to the cable (108) against the direction of pull of the motor (106).
One purpose of this setup is to provide an experience to a user similar to using a traditional cable-based strength training machine, where the cable is attached to a weight stack being acted on by gravity. Rather than the user resisting the pull of gravity, they are instead resisting the pull of the motor (106).
Note that with a traditional cable-based strength training machine, a weight stack may be moving in two directions: away from the ground or towards the ground. When a user pulls with sufficient tension, the weight stack rises, and as that user reduces tension, gravity overpowers the user and the weight stack returns to the ground.
By contrast in a digital strength trainer, there is no actual weight stack. The notion of the weight stack is one modeled by the system. The physical embodiment is an actuator connector (110) coupled to a cable (108) coupled to a motor (106). A “weight moving” is instead translated into a motor rotating. As the circumference of the spool is known and how fast it is rotating is known, the linear motion of the cable may be calculated to provide an equivalency to the linear motion of a weight stack. Each rotation of the spool equals a linear motion of one circumference or 2πr for radius r. Likewise, torque of the motor (106) may be converted into linear force by multiplying it by radius r.
If the virtual/perceived “weight stack” is moving away from the ground, motor (106) rotates in one direction. If the “weight stack” is moving towards the ground, motor (106) rotates in the opposite direction. Note that the motor (106) is pulling towards the cable (108) onto the spool. If the cable (108) is unspooling, it is because a user has overpowered the motor (106). Thus, note a distinction between the direction the motor (106) is pulling, and the direction the motor (106) is actually turning.
If the controller circuit (102, 104) is set to drive the motor (106) with, for example, a constant torque in the direction that spools the cable, corresponding to the same direction as a weight stack being pulled towards the ground, then this translates to a specific force/tension on the cable (108) and actuator connector (110). Calling this force “Target Tension,” this force may be calculated as a function of torque multiplied by the radius of the spool that the cable (108) is wrapped around, accounting for any additional stages such as gear boxes or belts that may affect the relationship between cable tension and torque. If a user exerts force on the actuator connector (110) with more force than the Target Tension, then that user overcomes the motor (106) and the cable (108) unspools moving towards that user, being the virtual equivalent of the weight stack rising. However, if that user applies less tension than the Target Tension, then the motor (106) overcomes the user and the cable (108) spools onto and moves towards the motor (106), being the virtual equivalent of the weight stack returning.
BLDC Motor. While many motors exist that run in thousands of revolutions per second, an application such as fitness equipment designed for strength training has different requirements and is by comparison a low speed, high torque type application suitable for a BLDC motor.
In one embodiment, a requirement of such a motor (106) is that a cable (108) wrapped around a spool of a given diameter, directly coupled to a motor (106), behaves like a 200 lbs weight stack, with the user pulling the cable at a maximum linear speed of 62 inches per second. A number of motor parameters may be calculated based on the diameter of the spool.
Thus, a motor with 67.79 Nm of force and a top speed of 395 RPM, coupled to a spool with a 3 inch diameter meets these requirements. 395 RPM is slower than most motors available, and 68 Nm is more torque than most motors on the market as well.
Hub motors are three-phase permanent magnet BLDC direct drive motors in an “out-runner” configuration: throughout this specification out-runner means that the permanent magnets are placed outside the stator rather than inside, as opposed to many motors which have a permanent magnet rotor placed on the inside of the stator as they are designed more for speed than for torque. Out-runners have the magnets on the outside, allowing for a larger magnet and pole count and are designed for torque over speed. Another way to describe an out-runner configuration is when the shaft is fixed and the body of the motor rotates.
Hub motors also tend to be “pancake style.” As described herein, pancake motors are higher in diameter and lower in depth than most motors. Pancake style motors are advantageous for a wall mount, subfloor mount, and/or floor mount application where maintaining a low depth is desirable, such as a piece of fitness equipment to be mounted in a consumer's home or in an exercise facility/area. As described herein, a pancake motor is a motor that has a diameter higher than twice its depth. As described herein, a pancake motor is between and 60 centimeters in diameter, for example 22 centimeters in diameter, with a depth between 6 and 15 centimeters, for example a depth of 6.7 centimeters.
Motors may also be “direct drive,” meaning that the motor does not incorporate or require a gear box stage. Many motors are inherently high speed low torque but incorporate an internal gearbox to gear down the motor to a lower speed with higher torque and may be called gear motors. Direct drive motors may be explicitly called as such to indicate that they are not gear motors.
If a motor does not exactly meet the requirements illustrated in the table above, the ratio between speed and torque may be adjusted by using gears or belts to adjust. A motor coupled to a 9″ sprocket, coupled via a belt to a spool coupled to a 4.5″ sprocket doubles the speed and halves the torque of the motor. Alternately, a 2:1 gear ratio may be used to accomplish the same thing. Likewise, the diameter of the spool may be adjusted to accomplish the same.
Alternately, a motor with 100x the speed and 100th the torque may also be used with a 100:1 gearbox. As such a gearbox also multiplies the friction and/or motor inertia by 100x, torque control schemes become challenging to design for fitness equipment/strength training applications. Friction may then dominate what a user experiences. In other applications friction may be present, but is low enough that it is compensated for, but when it becomes dominant, it is difficult to control for. For these reasons, direct control of motor speed and/or motor position as with BLDC motors is more appropriate for fitness equipment/strength training systems.
Elements for a slim wall-hanging exercise machine platform (204) include at least one of the following:
Multiple cameras in the disclosed machine or connected wirelessly in the room allow an artificial intelligence (AI) trainer, AI-assisted coach, and/or human coach depicted on the monitor (206) to have a better view of the user and provide better form detection. In one embodiment, the user is given a model of the perfect form visually overlaid with their own form to show areas of improvement or show the user alongside the fitness model or another user. The user is able to select the preferred viewing angle as there are multiple cameras.
As referred to herein, a “wall-hanging” machine is a machine that either hangs on a wall, is mounted on a stand, for example at a convenient height for sitting and/or standing, or is mounted in any way a traditional television or gaming device would be mounted. In one embodiment, a wall-hanging exercise machine is a universal or “ultimate” home exercise machine any user needs — and also serves as a wall hanging mirror, gaming portal, television screen, and home automation center.
A microphone system for voice commands may include multiple microphones to enable beamforming, far field control, and noise cancelling. In some cases the user environment may be quiet but for greater customer reliability this type of microphone supports noisy environments and cancels out any extraneous exercise equipment noise. The microphone system may be used to determine or assist determining when, for example, a speed bag and/or heavy bag is punched by the user and based on amplitude and phase, determines the relative strength with which a user hits a bag.
In one embodiment, the boxing accessory is part of a gamification of exercise to encourage more participation and engagement with a user. A collaboration mode progress with remote peers, real and/or historical, may be compared in order to encourage a user to try harder. A “ghost mode” may be used in conjunction with form feedback to show how a user has performed a punch such as an uppercut in the past on camera, and how it compares with a professional uppercut. A “virtual boxing match” may be made with a visual representation/score representation of how a user is doing with landing punches in comparison to a remote peer in order to spur competition between the user and the remote peer. In one embodiment, the “virtual boxing match” may comprise an optional haptic vest and/or haptic boxing glove accessory that allows the user to feel when a remote peer lands a punch.
In one embodiment, an actuator connector frame (302) coupled to a cable (108) of
In one embodiment, the cage is fabricated with an appropriate détente position such that the key (306) only locks into the cage (304) when it is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, using a “push and turn to lock” paradigm (312). Thus, in the above configuration, the key may be unlocked if it is pushed in and turned 90 degrees counterclockwise (312).
In one embodiment, the diameter of locking bar (308) is in the range 3 mm to 30 mm. Further, the materials from which the cage (304) and key (306) may be made are from any rigid materials including, without limitation, steel, aluminum, high strength plastic, and carbon fiber. Moreover, cage (304) and key (306) may be manufactured using any manufacturing method, including, without limitation, injection molding, casting, machining, forging, and 3D printing.
In one embodiment (not shown), a cable may not be attached to the cable connection base (100). In the aforementioned configuration, the cage (112) and the ball (108) may be coupled together through an anchor. The anchor may retain the cage (112) to the body of the ball (108).
The quick release locking mechanism may be referred to herein as a “T-lock” connector (110) of
Rope (402) includes a key (306), which itself includes a locking bar (308), similar to those shown in
Bar (406) is a long actuator that may be used with two hands and itself has two keys (306), each with a lock bar (308). On a two-armed exercise machine, each of the two keys (306) may be used to connect to each arm (212) to provide a stable resistance with twice the resistance capacity, for example, 100 lb on each arm for 200 lb total. Such a bar (406) may be useful for an exercise like a lat pulldown.
In one embodiment, boxing accessory (410) uses the same quick release locking mechanism/T-lock mechanism for quick/safe connection. The example shown in
Optionally, boxing gloves (412) may be used to improve the workout with greater hand protection and/or accuracy using a motion identifier. In one embodiment, the motion identifier comprises at least one of the following: an inertial measurement unit (IMU); a gyroscope; an accelerometer; a camera; a computer vision system; a microphone; and an audio analysis system.
The gloves (412) may be used to determine biosignals for a user, by including at least one of the following: a heart rate monitor; a pulse oximetry (SpO2/SaO2) monitor; an oxygen consumption (VO2 max) monitor; an electrocardiography (ECG) monitor; a blood pressure monitor; a pulse monitor; a brainwave monitor; a photoplethysmogram (PPG) monitor; an electromyography (EMG) monitor; an electrooculography (EOG) monitor; an electroencephalography (EEG) monitor; and/or a biosignal monitor.
The exercise machines of
The exercise machines of
In one embodiment, a dual motor version of the exercise machines of
The exercise machines of
Strike Data. Using sensors such as a cable sensor, motor sensor, and/or camera to detect landed punch counts, landed punch strength, and form feedback is disclosed. In one embodiment, a sensor may be used as shown in the following examples without limitation in
In the illustration, a strike waveform is shown where the horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is the amplitude of displacement along the cable (108) of
In one embodiment, the machine of
In one embodiment, a processor either within the machine of
As shown in
As shown in
Similar to that shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In the illustration, a strike waveform is shown where the horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is the amplitude of displacement along the cable (108) of
In one embodiment, the machine of
In one embodiment, a processor either within the machine of
As shown in
As shown in
Although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, the invention is not limited to the details provided. There are many alternative ways of implementing the invention. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive.
