A running emulator for increasing an athlete's strength in the movement of specific muscles used for running includes: a lower body frame; a pair of leg assemblies movably mounted on the lower body frame and having a leg extension carrier, a leg extension member slidably mounted through the leg extension carrier, a foot cradle mounted to the leg extension member; and two leg resistance members located on an outside of the lower body frame and connected to each of the pair of leg assemblies for resisting pivoting of the leg extension carrier relative to the lower body frame. During use by an athlete, the leg assemblies pivot and the leg extension member reciprocates through the leg extension carrier such that a path travelled by the athlete's foot on the foot cradle emulates motion of a sprinter.

An omnidirectional treadmill platform includes a splicing floor, an omnidirectional driving base and a floor removing/splicing actuator. A plurality of omnidirectional wheels are arranged in the driving base. The splicing floor is placed on the omnidirectional wheels. A user moves on the splicing floor, and the omnidirectional wheels of the driving base cause the splicing floor to move in a direction opposite to the movement direction of the user thus enabling the user to experience unlimited free movement, while in reality remaining in place. The splicing floor is formed by splicing a plurality of splicing blocks. The floor removing/splicing actuator removes and splices the splicing blocks at right positions, recycling splicing blocks and achieving the unlimited extension of the splicing floor. The new platform provides unrestricted movement and variable ground surface simulation irrespective of turn radius with near-negligible inertia force without the use of special footwear.

A virtual environment can use an absolute orientation framework. An absolute orientation framework in a virtual environment can be activated using an omnidirectional locomotion platform. An absolute orientation framework enables a user's avatar to move independently from the current viewpoint or camera position. The user's avatar can move in an absolute manner relative to a virtual environment map.

Anchored HydroResistance Speed Training is a running speed training apparatus and training method which is used/done underwater. The apparatus is used to firmly stabilize a floating person's hips while they carryout sprinting mechanics in a maximal rate of force development manner against the resistant environment of the water they are submerged in. The rationale is to enable water-resisted maximal rate of force production training using sprinting mechanics, where this otherwise is not feasible due to the lack of anchoring to a sturdy surface. The apparatus provides the necessary anchoring of a person to an affixed object and stabilizes the waist, iliac crest, anterior iliac spine, and thoracolumbar regions, without restricting limbs, thereby allowing the primary ranges of motion involved in sprinting. The base of the apparatus is firmly affixed to the floor of pools by way of a suction cup base or by being permanently installed into a pool floor.

A virtual environment can use an absolute orientation framework. An absolute orientation framework in a virtual environment can be activated using an omnidirectional locomotion platform. An absolute orientation framework enables a user's avatar to move independently from the current viewpoint or camera position. The user's avatar can move in an absolute manner relative to a virtual environment map.

A running emulator for increasing an athlete's strength in the movement of specific muscles used for running includes: a lower body frame; a pair of leg assemblies movably mounted on the lower body frame and having a leg extension carrier, a leg extension member slidably mounted through the leg extension carrier, a foot cradle mounted to the leg extension member; and two leg resistance members located on an outside of the lower body frame and connected to each of the pair of leg assemblies for resisting pivoting of the leg extension carrier relative to the lower body frame. During use by an athlete, the leg assemblies pivot and the leg extension member reciprocates through the leg extension carrier such that a path travelled by the athlete's foot on the foot cradle emulates motion of a sprinter.

The present invention is related to a virtual reality motion platform which is developed to provide the body movements and directions such as walking, running jumping, bending/leaning over, etc. to be transferred to the software based simulative environments which are also known as virtual reality environments.

The present invention is provided with: a first detector (A) which detects, as an application result, whether a user could implement, as instructed, teaching content according to a program selected from a training menu; a second detector (B) which detects, as a compatibility result, whether effects of the teaching content were exhibited; a recording part (14) which cumulatively records the application result and the compatibility result as an execution result together with program identifying information; and a calculation part (13) which, on the basis of one or more than one execution results recorded in the recording part, calculates for each program, as a compatibility ratio, the ratio of the number of execution results having positive compatibility results to the number of execution results having positive application results.

A locomotion system for use with a virtual environment technology includes a platform configured to support a user, a harness support assembly coupled to the platform and extending upwardly from the platform, and a safety harness configured to be worn by the user. The harness support assembly includes a support halo positioned above the platform and extending about a vertical central axis. The safety harness includes an interface structure moveably coupled to the support halo.

A foot sole pressure measurement instrument includes a measurement unit which is installed on a foot sole part of a subject and measures a pressure applied to the foot sole part of the subject, and an output unit configured to output data of the measured pressure.