Exercise Machine Muscle Targeting via Sensor-Driven Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing exercise machines lack the ability to provide real-time feedback and adjust settings to target specific muscle groups effectively, relying on retroactive muscle heatmap data that does not allow users to make informed adjustments during their workout.
Innovation Solution
An exercise machine equipped with sensors and a control system that detects current use conditions, determines muscle activation levels, and adjusts incline, resistance, or pedal path to recommend and enforce settings for targeting specific muscles, providing real-time feedback through interactive muscle maps and display devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If exercise machines provide real-time feedback and adjustment capabilities, then muscle targeting effectiveness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements real-time feedback through sensors that detect muscle activation levels and provide immediate information to the user via display devices. The system continuously monitors exercise parameters and adjusts settings automatically, creating a closed-loop control system that enhances muscle targeting effectiveness while managing complexity through intelligent automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The exercise machine performs self-adjustment by automatically modifying incline, resistance, or pedal path based on real-time sensor data about muscle activation. This self-service capability allows the system to optimize muscle targeting without requiring constant manual intervention, thereby improving effectiveness while reducing the operational complexity burden on the user.
2Productivity
If exercise machines provide real-time feedback and adjustment capabilities, then workout efficiency is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time feedback through interactive muscle maps and display devices that show users their current muscle activation levels. This feedback mechanism enables users to understand how their exercise form translates to muscle engagement, allowing for immediate corrections and optimizations that enhance workout efficiency while maintaining user control and understanding.
Solution Approach 2:
The exercise machine dynamically adjusts settings such as incline, resistance, and pedal path in real-time based on sensor data. This dynamic adaptability allows the system to optimize workout efficiency automatically, reducing the manual adjustment burden on users while maintaining ease of operation through automated intelligence.
3Device complexity
If exercise machines use retroactive muscle heatmap data, then device complexity is reduced, but loss of information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from retroactive to real-time feedback by continuously monitoring muscle activation levels during exercise. This real-time information flow eliminates the loss of information that occurs with post-workout heatmaps, providing users with immediate insights into their muscle engagement so they can adjust their exercise form or settings accordingly.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis of muscle activation patterns during the exercise itself, rather than waiting for the workout to complete. This preliminary action allows the system to provide immediate recommendations and adjustments while the exercise is ongoing, preventing information loss and enabling proactive optimization of muscle targeting.
Data Source
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AI summary
An exercise machine for assisting a user in targeting a muscle for an exercise motion. A sensor detects a current use condition while the user performs the exercise motion. The current use condition is one of multiple use conditions. A current activation level of the muscle changes within the multiple use conditions. A control system is operatively coupled to the sensor and is configured to determine the current activation level of the muscle based on the current use condition detected by the sensor, receive a desired activation level of the muscle, and determine a recommended use condition within the multiple use condition to cause the muscle to be at the desired activation level for performing the exercise motion, and to notify the user of the recommended use condition and/or automatically cause the exercise machine based on the recommended use condition, respectively, to assist the user in targeting the muscle.