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Advanced mechanical learning system

Advanced mechanical learning system description/claims

The present invention relates to a learning process through a mechanical system of an arbitrary movement with an arbitrary mechanical loading being present. It can be relevant to sport activity, art or for rehabilitation purposes.

Stiff system: large forces are generated when small deviations are present Compliant system: moderate forces are produced at moderate deviations Very compliant system: large deviations result in small force differences Absolutely compliant system: large deviations do not cause any force differences Loading: a system of forces and torques that simulates an object, tool, weight, sports object or any arbitrary action that might be enforced upon the user in the real situation. Position: an instantaneous value of a considered function, such as a position of an actuator, angular or translational position of a mechanical system, position in space, or the first or the second derivatives of this function Trajectory: a sequence of positions either associated with a fixed or a variable time interval. It is assumed that these positions produce a closed loop.

By now there is enough evidence published in the literature that various movement parameters are encoded by neurons in the motor cortex. Recent results suggest a monotonic or linear encoding. This means that the trainee is gradually gaining a certain mechanical memory and whether this memory is right or wrong should be constantly verified during the very process of learning. Because of monotonic character of the learning process, changes on the earlier stages would have been much more effective compared to the later intervention. Besides, the user has to have a possibility to adjust himself to the actual loading conditions. So the system has to provide the realistic loading pattern. Eventually the learning process would be complete if the user is capable of repeating the required trajectory with a specified accuracy and with the realistic force pattern being applied.

A number of partial solutions of this problem have been presented in earlier patents devoted to various learning systems.

In the patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,269 a training device is proposed with a possibility to provide a variable force. The system described in this patent is dealing with a one-dimensional rotational motion and there is no direct control of angular displacement. A rotation speed is used instead. Since the system described there is limited to the one-dimensional case, nothing is spoken of a complex trajectory and no control means are suggested for maintaining this trajectory.

In the patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,656 a system is proposed for generating an arbitrary 2D force pattern. However in this system a clear emphasis is made on generating the force pattern rather than on providing a specific displacement. Nothing is spoken of a correcting action, which means that this system is also insufficient for learning a mechanical movement.

The system described in the patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,831 is based on two two-dimensional actuating systems having an incorporated feedback mechanism in it. However nothing is mentioned on how this feedback is actually realized. The system described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,831 is aimed at rehabilitation and is limited to the stepping motion. Besides, it does not provide a method for specifically loading the patient. The system uses actuators for auxiliary or assisting purpose. For the rehabilitation purpose this solution might be enough. However in order to simulate an action of handling a weight, a tool, a sport object or some arbitrary action a force or torque system would be required. This force or torque system is further referred as external loading or just loading. The absence of an external loading makes this approach insufficient for a general case, because as recent investigations reveal, some extra adaptation of the user is needed if the force pattern is changed.

In the patent U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,896 there is a description of a complex system provided for rehabilitation purposes. This system provides complex movements and these movements are applied in a cyclic manner. But the user cannot change the path of a prescribed movement. So the movement is enforced upon the user. Lack of room for a free movement deprives the user from practice, which makes such learning incomplete. Practically anyone going once and a while into the gym can tell that there is quite a difference between a free and a restricted motion. If an individual is regularly using a facility with a rigidly restricted trajectory and then he switches to the facility where this restriction is less pronounced, he would most certainly notice considerable deviations from the original trajectory, which is a clear indication that he was used to the rigid restriction.

Thus there is no system or method available for a complete learning process of an arbitrary trajectory with an arbitrary loading pattern. Such a method and corresponding system are proposed in this invention.

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