UNeTech partner patents hands-free treadmill

Impower Health Inc. — an Omaha-based business within UNMC’s UNeTech Institute startup family — announced it has received a U.S. patent covering user-paced treadmills and the involved technology.

The treadmill operates so users can adjust the speed of the belt without pressing any buttons. Instead, users simply speed up or slow down on the treadmill, and the belt speed adjusts accordingly.

The control circuitry can be configured to change the velocity of the belt based at least in part on the body velocity and leg swing velocity of a user on the treadmill.

The patent — U.S. Patent No. 11,185,740 — covers technology within the treadmill that includes a control apparatus for exercise equipment, which is comprised of:

• A sensor system to generate data representative of the user's body velocity and leg swing velocity when the exercise equipment is in use.
• Velocity generation circuitry to generate additional data for the exercise equipment based in part on the body velocity and leg swing velocity.
• Velocity adjustment circuitry to cause the exercise equipment to operate at the new equipment velocity.

Impower Health Inc. CEO Doug Miller said: "This is affirmation by the patent office that we have a unique approach to providing a new and safer treadmill experience — the first user-paced experience for motorized treadmills and an experience that can translate to other cardio machines. Impower Health Inc. is excited by the prospect of bringing this technology to market." 

UNeTech is a state- and grant-supported translational research institute. It provides funding for projects that fall between basic science research grants and private investment, working with inventors and entrepreneurs.

The institute's primary mission is to use the world-class research of UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha to add value to startups. Its partners are tenured professors, community physicians and entrepreneurs in Omaha and around the world.