EFit

DESCRIPTION:

Doctors and other human health professionals all agree that exercise is one of the most important aspects of the human lifespan. The ability to move and stretch muscles is almost as important as finding sustenance to feed the body. Some people would say it’s just as important. Without exercise, the body begins to break down. The immune system commences to lose its efficiency, and soon diseases and physical issues start to appear.

The sedentary routine increasingly replaces the active lifestyle for many adults and children as well. This routine is a trend that many believe is progressively dangerous for a long and meaningful life. The advent of television in the 1950’s increased what was becoming a more settled society. Currently, people seem to have less and less time available for physical activity. The introduction of the Internet, Video games, more expanded TV experiences all contribute to a life spent physically inactive. The workplace has been increasingly prone to desktop work. Less and less work is done physically by many people. Many hours consumed in front of computers without proper breaks for physical activity is the norm. The result is more down time with a less healthy workforce engaged in the day to day employment.

An unhealthy workforce suffering from various infirmities caused mostly by lack of physical activity present a burden on employers and health care services. Time wasted, and productivity is down. The productivity in an increasingly competitive global society affects the country economically in various ways. The cost of productivity increases and an employer loses the ability to be competitive due to health care costs and chronic absenteeism. Solutions need to be found to rectify the trend of sedentary lifestyles and the workforce lack of physical activity.

The Efit product is an innovative and ingenious solution to the increasing need for activity during the workday for persons performing in non-physical occupations. The Efit is an exercise motivator specifically designed for the office worker or other persons who are required to sit for hours at a time. The Efit electronic voice will announce at a programmed time the exercise. The device is also capable of demonstrating the prescribed workout. The Efit is capable of programmable motivational speech. With phrases such as “Time to get moving!” and You can do it!” It will also display the activity with its anatomically correct form. Capable of a variety of movements the Efit can be an exercise companion and help keep the user motivated and focused on the workout.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity allows a large variety of music and sounds programmed into the unit. The head of the unit is a high-quality speaker capable of producing excellent quality music and reproducing human speech. At the base of the unit is a programmable control panel where user input can be selected. The unit can be activated and programmed via the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. The user can connect their electronic devices such as a smartphone, tablet or computer and play their music or sound selection. The Efit will become a motivation inspiration for the desk and chair confined office worker or anyone who is required to sit for long hours during the day. The Efit improves the health and mental quality of the user by providing the benefit of regular exercise.

SPECIFIC, UNIQUE FUNCTIONS OF INVENTION:

• Motivates personnel to exercise more
• Helps lower stress
• Promotes good posture
• Plays music and motivational phrases
• Built timer and alarm
• Programmable for personal music collection
• Silent mode
• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capable
• Keeps user active
• Demonstrates exercise regimen selected
• Capable of a large variety of exercises

PRODUCT COMPONENT CLARIFICATION:

The “EFit” is an innovative exercising incentive product that has been designed to stimulate the user to exercise in the office or home at previously determined intervals. The battery powered “EFit” uses aural and visual stimulation to get the user moving many times a day, vastly improving the quality of life of the individual. The robotic product simulates the exercise while describing it and leading the user to move multiple times a day. The robotic figurine can be dressed in one of many costumes made available, for example, professional suit, loose fitting exercise wear, office casual clothing, etc.

Currently, the typical office worker is very sedentary when compared to workers 50 years ago. Sitting at the desk and concentrating for hours on the computer is productive, but over long periods of time, can be very harmful to the health of the individual. Without exercise, the body atrophies, breaking down through non-use. The immune system loses efficiency plus muscles and connective tissue lose tone. Soon, diseases and severe physical issues appear, severely degrading the capability of the person to concentrate and work efficiently.

The “EFit” resolves most of these issues by encouraging the user to stand and perform light exercises on a periodic basis, several times a day. These exercises are ‘led’ by a robotic figurine that demonstrates the exercise to be performed and then engages the music, if selected, to go along with that specific exercise, and leads the user to perform the low impact, low energy exercise. Then the next exercise is selected by the microcontroller, described aurally, and performed by the figurine, guiding the user. After the routine is completed the figurine is stilled and the system reverts to the previous set activity, i.e., playing music, or doing nothing at all.

• Note: The figurine acts just like the user’s own personal instructor, working out to the exercise level they have selected. The menu driven application allows the user to select the type, the level of activity, and the times they want to have “EFit” help them retain and improve their health even though they have a sedentary job.

The head of the approximately 12” tall figurine is round and contains a high fidelity speaker. Music, voice synthesized speech, and almost any other sound is projected from it toward the user. The speaker/head is supported by a biomorphic figurine with moveable arms and hinged legs. The robotic product simulates the exercise while describing it and leading the user to move multiple times a day. The micro-computer in the figurine operates the gearmotors and coordinates the vertical movement rod with the base controller to demonstrate and lead the exercise.

In the electronic version, the base has a touch screen to access the menu, alter or set the operational time and exercises, select music, etc. A Bluetooth link and an application program are supplied so the base can be contacted with a smartphone, tablet, or computer. Both the figurine and the base use micro-controllers and have batteries on board to facilitate the operation. The figurine’s speaker lets the user know that the batteries need to be charged by blinking the touch screen and creating a 2 KHz chirp every 30 seconds. An adapter is supplied with a polarized plug on a 6’ cord to charge the base or figurine. In normal operation, the product can function from 5 to 7 days with exercising every hour for 5 minutes or so before requiring a charge. Use of the device as an entertainment center will result is a shorter battery life.

The figurine: This biomorphic figure is shaped like a human body and has arms with 3 degrees of freedom and rod that raises and lowers the figurine from the base. The arm and leg sections are injection molded using polypropylene plastic. The appropriate hinges, holes, and cavities molded into the sections. The arms can rotate about 180°, the upper arm can raise about 75°, and the forearm can flex about 75°. This movement can demonstrate almost any low impact arm movement. These movements are performed with miniature DC gearmotors or micro-sized cables, pulleys, and DC servomotors. These miniature components are inexpensively sourced from available toy robot components. The sound is transmitted to the figurine from the ‘smarter’ electronics in the base using the short range Bluetooth link between the base and figurine. The back of the figurine has a hinge support that fastens to the lift rod, which lifts, lowers, and supports the figurine.

The biomorphic figurine: This figurine contains, but is not limited to, the following components.

• The computer: This is a very low power requirement, 8 bit RISC, solitary chip microcontroller operating at 16 MHz. It has onboard chip flash memory, 256 KB flash and 32 KB, which can be increased through the use of external sources if more memory is required. The chip also has an embedded 2.45 GHz radio module, which allows communication once a 2.45 GHz antenna is connected the microcontroller. The chip also a few pins available that are capable of being paralleled together so it can drive a low power LED indicator directly.
• DC servomotors and gearmotors: The commercially available motors and gear sets are utilized to control the arm action of the figurine. These movements are performed with miniature DC gearmotors or micro-sized cables, pulleys, and DC servomotors. These miniature components are inexpensively sourced from available upscale toy robot components, which are very robust and will provide a long product life. The arm movement is limited to 3 degrees of freedom because that is all that is required in this product and the simpler design reduces the product cost, making it more affordable.
• The Bluetooth link: 5.0, A2DP, short range capable chip set. This unit can send and receive up to 30’ in free air, which is more than sufficient for this application.
• Li-Ion battery: This very high current density battery employs the latest in Li-Ion technology. It is packaged to fit in the housing. The battery is capable of operating the biomorphic figurine, under nominal conditions, for 5 to 7 days between charges.
• The speaker/head: This small, high fidelity speaker provides a very high quality audio signal form 200 Hz to 20,000 HZ. It is oriented to be facing forward on the figurine and projects the sound outward and slightly upward. When the battery is less than 25%, as determined by either computer, it is programmed to emit 2 short 2 kHz pulses repeating every 30 seconds to conserve energy and draw attention but not be obtrusive. The speaker also can issue voice commands, which are synthesized in the base and transmitted to the figurine.
  • As an option: The product can be supplied with voice recognition, allowing it to
    operate by voice commands.
• Figurine clothing: This clothing is designed and sewn from common cotton fabrics. The figurine is supplied with a set of professional clothing in either female or male styles with appropriate shoes.
  • As an option: The figurine’s professional clothing can be removed and it can be re- dressed in one of many styles found on the manufacturer’s Internet store. These can be workplace casual, loosely fitting exercise gear, etc. If the user wishes, the figurine can be left in the au natural state so one can observe all the action in the joints as it is operated.
• The base: This base contains all the electronics to operate, program, and link the product to the user’s smartphone, tablet, or computer. The housing is injection molded using grain textured and wood colored polypropylene plastic. The front surface of the housing accepts the flat panel of polycarbonate plastic that contains the touchscreen and alerting LEDS. This panel is secured to the inside of the housing using stainless steel fasteners. The back of the base is similarly attached. The base contains, but is not limited to, the following.
  • The controlling computer: Dual core, 1.3 GHz ARM based computer chipset. This is from a generation or two back cellular phone inventory to reduce programming and device cost. The product is supplied with 16 GB of memory and 1 GB of RAM.
  • The touch screen display: This display is a LED backlit IPS LCD capacitive touch screen with full color capability. The screen is 4.0” diagonal at 326 pixels per inch. It is protected with Corning Gorilla GlassTM with oleophobic coating.
  • LEDs: These low current LED devices are lighted using a remote LED driver controlled by the computer. They indicate status and current conditions of the device to aid in quickly determining the condition of the system. They work in conjunction with the touch screen display.
  • Switch: The switch is sealed tactile membrane switches, which is used to turn on and off the microcomputer.
  • The WiFi link: 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual band chip set.
  • The Bluetooth link: 5.0, A2DP, short range capable chip set. This unit can send and receive up to 30’ in free air, which is more than sufficient for this application.
  • The 120 VAC cord & plug and smart charger: This section of the PCB has a smart charger chip. It takes the power connected to the building 120 VAC mains, converts it to DC, and uses it to charge the Li-Ion battery. The smart charger monitors the battery temperature and will not charge the battery if it is elevated in temperature. The adapter has a 6’ cord to allow convenient charging of the device. The adapter is designed to be used on both the base and the figurine, with each device telling the user when it needs a charge.
  • Li-Ion battery: This very high current density battery employs the latest in Li-Ion technology. It is packaged to fit in the housing. The battery is capable of operating the base, under nominal conditions, for 5 to 7 days between charges.
  • Figurine lift & lower assembly: This assembly consists of a rigid linear bearing imbedded in the housing that supports the brass operating rod laterally but allows unimpeded vertical motion. The lift and lowering motion is supplied by a miniature, reversible DC gearmotor, which is controlled by the microcomputer using commercially available drivers. The gearmotor output shaft has a molded plastic gear that engages the molded plastic linear gear track bonded to the brass shaft.
  • The application: This app is designed to allow the user to either use the factory programmed exercise programs and associated music, or can add exercise programs of their own. The app will also allow the user to set the unit to just play music from the downloaded playlist, set specified exercise times, etc. The application program is a one-time effort, which can be outsourced, if required.

The printed circuit boards (PCBs): The PCBs for both devices are fabricated to the final assembler’s requirements in a world class contract electronic assembler facility. The standard thickness, double sided FR4 circuit board material is populated with surface mounted components where possible. Any through-hole devices are inserted after the surface mounted assembly, soldering, and cleaning. Both circuit boards are designed to have all the components oriented so they can be mounted with the LED illuminators projecting out of the lenses mounted in the housings. After assembly, the PCBs are protected with a moisture adsorption preventive conformal coating.

The “EFit” product is designed to be aesthetic and effective in the application. The reasonably uncomplicated fabrication and the sensibly priced components provide good marketability for the manufacturer. The user benefits from improved physical heath and productivity at work, which should provide considerable market interest in the product.

The invention is illustrated in the attached drawings of the essential points as explained to us in the documentation.

Drawing 1, Block 1: EFit – Active Figure Front And Side Views, Electronic Version

(1) The EFit system is turned on using the tactile membrane switch mounted just below the touch screen display.

(2) The full color touch screen display is used to engage the system, select the operation, select the music, etc.

(3) The low current LEDs alert the user to the product’s condition, where the left is green indicating the unit is on and the right is red indicating that the system needs a charge.

(4) The figurine has its own battery and microcontroller, getting its operating instructions via Bluetooth link from the base unit and asks for a recharge when its battery is low.

(5) The arms have 3 degrees of freedom where the upper arm assembly rotates at the shoulder, the upper arm flexes up and down, and the elbow joint flexes in and out.

(6) The sounds are played from the high fidelity speaker that is fixed to the torso.

(7) The robotic figure can be dressed in any one of the supplied costumes, i.e., a professional suit, a casual blazer and pants or skirt, loose workout clothes, etc.

(8) The arm movements are coordinated with the exercise program, or can remain still to conserve energy when music is being played.

(9) The rod in the back goes up and down to get the robotic figure to ‘squat’ and rise back to a standing position, leading the owner in exercises that are programmed to occur at user specified times, reducing any health problems by getting the user to move at regular intervals. The user can elect to use the factory preset times and low energy exercise programs or can select from those programmed into the library and set up a personal routines for themselves.

(10) The legs are hinged to allow the figure to squat and then stand without impediment during the rod movement, which is driven with a reversible DC micro-motor.

(11) The base is fabricated using decorative wood or employs injection molded plastic with simulated wood grain patterns.

(12) The base is weighted to insure the product remains upright even if is inadvertently struck while the user is copying the movement of the miniature robotic figure.

Although a single embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the above detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment developed herein, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, substitutions of parts and elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

This document has been prepared for the manufacturer’s elucidation. The manufacturer’s decision makers should consider this product for licensing (providing intellectual property protection for their sales of the product in return for a royalty payment for a period of years) or an outright purchase of the patent for a negotiated fee. The inventor and her team are standing by to consider offers for licensing or outright purchase of the patent.