This is just hilarious. Even more so than the World Of Warcraft treadmill race across Azeroth. It’s a human-powered mobile treadmill by Alex Astilean. Technically the equivalent of a large hamster wheel for humans, this mobile treadmill will have everyone in the park giving you funny looks. Just be careful not to hit anyone. With the momentum this thing could potentially build up, who knows what kind of damage it could do?
You don’t have to look far to find acts of extreme dorkiness on the internet. The folks of Mana Energy Potion have hooked up treadmills to their PCs, indirectly promoting a new Olympic event, one that all gamers can appreciate regardless of athletic finesse.
The event I speak of is of course the Azeroth cross country track competition. One virtual World Of Warcraft mile boils down into half of a real mile and these geeks are going to run across it for five minutes of painful sprinting. Donning brightly-colored wigs and fake swords, these two geeks square off in the gauntlet. The gauntlet being Mom’s basement.
Just kidding. There is no car obesity epidemic. But there’s indeed a big ass treadmill that was built. That part was as serious as a brain tumor. Haas Automation has created this treadmill in hopes to improve aerodynamics of NASCAR racers. Not the actual racers, like the drivers. We mean the actual cars. Sorry for that misunderstanding. Can we continue?
Its 1 mm thick steel belt can rotate at 180 mph. The treadmill also features sensors under the track that can run diagnostics on each individual wheel. When the facility opens later this year, the treadmill will be rented out to motorsport teams and organizations. And the Jolly Good Giant is looking for a new gym. (more…)
For all of you world travelers or French readers, if you happen to have a chance to be in Paris, you might want to take a run by the Adidas Sport Performance Store and see this awesome looking treadmill they’ve got running. The Paris outlet has a mi Innovation Center where athletes and sneaker fans alike can go for a totally customizable experience. Even more impressive is the treadmill the store has in the Innovation Center.
This thing is not only huge, but can read a slew of biometric data from your feet alone. With this information, which includes foot size, pressure, shape, and landing stress, the customer can then design their shoe using a giant multi-touch display as your 3D show model dynamically updates itself to your specifications. When you finish with your design, a giant mirror graphs a model of the shoe onto your foot in real time. If you’re happy with your design, the shoes will be on your doorstep in 3 weeks from order date.
A stoke can disable someones life. Motor function gets dowgraded, coordination goes out the window, and muscle strength disappears along with the nerve strength. This swiss rehab system, the Lokomat, is a treadmill with robot-assisted lower extremities. Made by Hocoma, the Locomat has shown beneficial for post-stroke victims who have found weakening in their leg muscles. In a recent study, patients who used the Lokomat have shown higher muscle mass then a control group. The Lokomat is available in sizes for both adult and pediatric patients.
From Hocoma:
The Lokomat System utilizes high quality computer controlled motors (drives) which are integrated in the gait orthosis at each hip and knee joint. Force transducers at the joints accurately measure the interaction between the patient and the Lokomat. The drives are precisely synchronized with the speed of the treadmill. This sensitive system assures a precise match between the speed of the gait orthosis and the treadmill.
There’s no doubt that for now this treatment will be pretty expensive and exclusive to only a few rehab centers, but to give stroke victims another lease on life, is worth every sacrifice. — Andrew Dobrow
Locomat, an Automated Treadmill that Rebuilds Muscle after Stroke [Medgadget]
