As aged population increases in our society, the importance of maintaining and improving the quality of life is attracting more and more attention. An increasing number of people are regularly performing walking and running as easy-to-start exercises. When walking or running indoors, treadmills are frequently utilized. Typically, users set the belt speed of treadmills using control buttons, and walk/run on the treadmill at the set speed. However, this is not what people usually do when walking/running over the ground. Normally, the walking/running speed is not a constant value but fluctuates around the intended speed. This is because the speed is finitely adjusted according to the intent of acceleration/deceleration. To address this issue, we developed an intelligent treadmill that estimates the intention of the user. We used the 6-axes force sensors embedded in the treadmill, and analyzed the ground reaction force data to estimate the intention of acceleration/deceleration. We also made it possible to distinguish walking/running locomotion patterns. This enables the users to start from standing still, gradually accelerate the walking speed, transition to running, and speed up/down as she or he likes, quite seamlessly. This is a result to greatly improve the utility of treadmill systems.

DESCENTE SPORTS SCIENCE Vol.34/THE DESCENTE AND ISHIMOTO MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION SPORTS SCIENCE