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Automated Treadmill Adjusts To Your Pace

This cool automated treadmill watches you run; if you speed up or slow down, it automatically adjusts the speed to keep up with you.


( Automated Treadmill via Eurekalert)

The automated treadmill uses sonar to tell exactly where the runner is on the treadmill. If the runner picks up pace and moves toward the front of the running belt, the speed automatically increases. If the runner slows down and moves toward the back, the speed decreases.

The result is a treadmill experience that is much closer to walking or running outdoors, said Steven T. Devor, associate professor of kinesiology at The Ohio State University.

"If you're running outside and you want to speed up or slow down, there is no button to push. It is the same with this new automated treadmill," Devor said.

"It is seamless and feels completely natural. You just go."

Devor said the device is a finished prototype in his lab and is nearly ready for commercialization.

Fans of sf writer David Brin, on the other hand, probably recall the needle-gym floor (also called an accu-terrain floor) from his 1994 short story Natulife:

I sprinted from cover, swiftly taking the lead. The auto-treadmill's bumps and gullies matched whatever terrain the goggles showed me, so my feet knew how to land and thrust off again...

Via Eurekalert.

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