Motion base with controlled actuators

A method of effecting a change in a relationship between an upper plate of a motion base and a lower plate of a motion base, comprising:

• a. providing a motion base, the motion base comprising:
• i. a lower plate;
• ii. an upper plate;
• iii. a plurality of lateral stabilizers disposed in-between and connected to the lower and upper plates, the plurality of lateral stabilizers configured to provide lateral and torsional stability between the lower and upper plates;
• iv. a plurality of actuators, each actuator operatively connected to the upper plate and the lower plate, each actuator comprising:
• 1. a body;
• 2. a rod movably disposed at least partially within the body, the rod comprising a proximal end disposed within the body and a distal end extending out from the body, the distal end operatively connected to an opposing one of the upper plate or the lower plate, the rod and body defining an actuator effective length;
• and
• 3. a controllable rod extender operatively coupled to the proximal end of the rod and configured to selectively extend the rod out from and retract the rod into the body, effectively causing the actuator to dynamically change its effective length from a first predetermined length to a second predetermined length;
• and
• v. an active controller operatively in communication with the controllable rod extender and configured to selectively effect the extension of the rod out from and retraction of the rod into the body;
• b. determining a desired effective state of a parameter for each of the plurality of actuators;
• c. determining a current effective state of the parameter for each of the plurality of actuators;
• and
• d. sending a control signal to each controllable rod extender of each actuator to change the current effective state of the parameter of each actuator if needed to match the current effective state of the parameter to the desired effective length by moving each such actuator's extendable rod into each such actuator's body or moving each such actuator's extendable rod out from each such actuator's body such that the current effective length for each of the plurality of actuators matches the desired parameter for that actuator.