Robotic exercise machine and method

Method of controlling skeletal-muscle exercises as said exercises are performed by a user applying force to a user interaction point of an exercise machine, said method comprising the steps of:

• moving the user interaction point a first time along a specified trajectory by applying a first user exerted force;
• storing said specified trajectory;
• measuring the magnitude of the first user exerted force at a plurality of positions of the user interaction point along the specified trajectory;
• storing said magnitude of the first user exerted force;
• moving the user interaction point a second time along the specified trajectory in response to said stored trajectory by applying a second user exerted force;
• and
• applying a machine exerted resistance force opposite in direction to the second user-exerted force and in response to the stored magnitude of the first user exerted force at each of said plurality of positions of the user interaction point along the specified trajectory.

A user programmable exercise machine for defining and recording an exercise path, comprising:

• a rigid frame;
• movable means movably connected to said frame and operative to assume any desired position within a predetermined region of at least two dimensions;
• position sensing means operative in response to the user-defined position of said movable means to provide location signals corresponding to said position of said exercise path within said predetermined region;
• signal storage means operative to receive and store said location signals while said movable means is freely moved along an arbitrary user-defined path within said region;
• and
• motive means operatively coupled to said movable means to drive said movable means to any position within said region, and operatively controlled in response to said stored location signals to constrain said movable means to move only along said user-defined path in response to manual force applied to said movable means.

A programmable exercise machine for defining and recording an exercise path, comprising:

• a rigid frame;
• movable means movably connected to said frame and operative to assume any desired position within a predetermined region of at least two dimensions;
• position sensing means operative in response to the actual position of said movable means to provide location signals corresponding to said actual position of said movable means within said predetermined region;
• signal storage means operative to receive and store desired location signals corresponding to an arbitrarily defined path within said region;
• and
• motive means operatively coupled to said movable means to drive said movable means to any position within said region, and operatively controlled in response to said desired location signals and said actual location signals to constrain said movable means to move only along said arbitrarily defined path in response to manual force applied to said movable means.

A user programmable exercise machine for defining and recording an exercise path, comprising:

• a rigid frame;
• movable means movably connected to said frame and operative to assume any desired position within a predetermined region of at least two dimensions;
• position sensing means operative in response to the user-defined position of said movable means to provide location signals corresponding to the actual position of said exercise path within said predetermined region;
• signal storage means operative to receive and store location signals corresponding to an arbitrary user-defined path within said region;
• and
• constraining means coupled to said movable means and operative in response to said stored location signals to constrain said movable means to move only along said user-defined path in response to manual force applied to said movable means.

A programmable exercise machine for defining and recording an exercise path, comprising:

• a rigid frame;
• movable means movably connected to said frame and operative in the absence of constraint to assume any desired position within a predetermined region of at least two degrees of freedom;
• position sensing means operative in response to the actual position of said movable means to provide location signals corresponding to said actual position of said movable means within said predetermined region;
• signal storage means operative to receive and store desired location signals corresponding to a defined path within said region;
• and
• constraining means coupled to said movable means and operative in response to said desired location signals and said actual location signals to inhibit manual movement of said movable means in any direction other than a direction tangent to said defined path.

The method of defining and controlling an exercise through manual force applied to a user interaction point of an exercise machine, comprising the steps of:

• manually moving the user interaction point a first time to define an arbitrary exercise path within a predetermined region having at least two degrees of freedom;
• storing said defined exercise path;
• and then
• manually moving the user interaction point a second time while applying a machine exerted force to said user interaction point in response to said stored exercise path to inhibit the user interaction point from movement to a location not along said defined exercise path.

The method of defining and controlling an exercise through manual force applied to a user interaction point of an exercise machine, said user interaction point initially capable of assuming any desired position within a region having at least two degrees of freedom, comprising the steps of:

• defining an arbitrary exercise path to be followed by said user interaction point within said region;
• storing said defined exercise path;
• and then
• manually moving said user interaction point along said arbitrarily defined path while applying a machine exerted force to said point in response to said stored exercise path to constrain the manual movement to movement along said path.