Robotic Boxing Trainer (RBT)

Brief history:

The RBT came about because there was nothing on the market that even boxed back at you. The only thing that I had that came back at you was using a double-end striking bag. Using it and my various speed bag setups still left a void of what I really wanted. 

So after giving it thought, I came up with a list of requirements that such a device would have to meet. I became well aware of what attempts have been made by patent searches and by looking at the robotic boxers on YouTube. None of them met my expectations. The patents that even came close had obvious flaws. The punches were not like a human's and they were way too slow.

More info on the RBT:

The importance of the RBT goes beyond training and fitness, it fulfills a safety need. Notice that my first requirement says the RBT must be light and strong. That is NOT an easy thing to accomplish that is subject to all kinds of abuse from not only boxing at the speeds it does (whether it does not hit or hits), but also from the abuse of the customer from sudden side deflections or possible direct hits on the arm assembly when it is or is not in the home position. If the RBT arms are not strong enough, they will break. If the RBT shoulder is too stiff, it is unrealistic to mimic a human arm deflection, puts too much strain on the RBT arm when fully extended and deflected, and also puts too much strain to the shoulder assembly of the RBT; also, most importantly, the customer’s shoulder and arm. If the shoulder is too weak it can not hold the RBT arm as it extends fully.

There are numerous medical studies proving that full contact, full force boxing and martial arts does short term and long term damage to the brain even when full head gear is worn. You simply can’t have the mass behind a human arm moving at a high speed and have it hit someone’s head area and not do damage to the brain. The RBT arms are light and thus could move at human punch speeds but with much less force. That allows a person to train under realistic punch speeds and yet not suffer the abuse of human punches at the same speed.

The RBT helps get over the intimidation factor of punches coming toward a person. Over time they learn to be relaxed when throwing AND receiving punches so that their muscles react quicker since tense muscles move slower. They learn to stay focused on what counts and to block out what does not count. Focusing on what counts increases reaction times. The RBT has no muscles, facial expressions or any other human trait that can be detected before it throws a punch, unlike humans who can twitch, squint, move a fist back just slightly before the punch it, or have other telegraphing signs before a punch is thrown.

Why the RBT is unique:

1. The arms are stiff and do not flex. The flex comes from the shoulder. The arms mimic the deflection feel of a true straight arm being punched. When a human arm punches at you and you deflect it, it’s not the arm that bends (unless it was broken), but rather the shoulder that gives and moves with the arm.
2. The RBT shoulder assembly is like none other. It is also very compact. It is easy to deflect and yet strong enough to support the arm in its home position and extended position. It gives 360 degrees of deflection movement with a 15 inch radius. It comes back to centerline quickly after the deflection with undue wobble.
3. No other design takes into consideration the importance of a fast punch ALONG WITH a fast retraction in the various scenarios a punch arm is subjected to. It’s one thing to make an arm that punches, but to make that same arm quickly retract given the many parameters of the arm, such as: may be stopped anywhere along its path, the arm may be held for an uncertain amount of time after it extended, the arm may have to retract coming from a deflected position, the arm may have to move forward again even before it is in the home position.
4. It was designed with making the complex simple; the expensive, inexpensive.
5. An arm could be taken off and held by itself and used by a trainer due to its lightness and compactness having all the needed parts in the RBT arm. This gives the option of a trainer using it on a trainee to practice their blocking as the trainer points the arm at various points on the trainee.
   
6. The RBT is a working prototype proven to not only work, but also torture tested to show that it keeps on working.
7. It is very low maintenance design not needing fixes or adjustments much at all.
8. It has very few parts to accomplish what no other device has.
9. The RBT arm punch speeds are documented and proven to replicate human punch speeds that are slow to at least up to par with pro boxer speeds making it a fun challenge from the novice up to the pros.
10. Because the RBT arms offer so much adjustment on the setup position, the arms could be coming straight out at you or angled at you. The “fists” can leave a small opening to the customer’s boxing device or a large opening.
11. The RBT arm assembly that punches forward weighs less than 10 oz. Compare that to the average human arm that weighs 8 to 12 lbs for a male, and 7 to 9 lbs for a female, plus, has body weight transfer to add to that power. The RBT has no body transfer; all that moves forward is the punch arm. No device can match that lightness combined with strength and also the ability to return to the centerline of the punch path quickly when deflected. The unique lightness of the RBT arm is what gives it its relatively low impact when traveling at the speeds it can generate.
12. No other device includes the minute details of how it actually works like the RBT does. It is not vague in how it can possibly work, it says how it works. It says what is used, what is in the controller and all the parts used.
13. Nothing about the RBT has a frame or rest on the floor, but can be put into the design.
14. The design requires a very low manufacturing cost for such a device that does so much. It is harder to make something that could be complex, simple.
15. It requires much cheaper shipping cost because of its compactness and light weight. With today’s shipping cost, that must be considered when focusing on the bottom line true cost.
16. The design gives freedom to the customer to put their punching object between the RBT arms rather than having it dictated what will be it. It also saves the customer that much more money if they already have a punching device.
17. Because the customer can set their punching device where they want it in relationship to the RBT arms, that allows them to place their punching device front surface as near or far from the RBT’s punch arm fists. To make it realistic, it would be best to set the punching device surface such that if the customer’s extended jab can reach their punching device surface, then the extended RBT arm should be able to reach the customer. In other words, if the customer is close enough to hit their punching device, the RBT arm is close enough to hit the customer. Still, the customer has the choice of changing that distance to more of their reach advantage or to their disadvantage. The RBT offers distance options like none other.
18. The RBT arms will move forward even if they have a slight object touching the sides of them. This is important in the case of a customer using their own punching device listed above. I have used a double-end bag with the RBT. Because that style bag is on two vertical extension cords top and bottom, it travels in many directions bouncing off the sides of the RBT arms, and yet, my arms will still move even if the double-end bag is hitting the sides of them at that moment.
19. The RBT fist and arm area of space taken mimic a human’s.
20. No other device has thought through all the scenarios that could occur with punch arms and the safety hazards they could create if not dealt with in minute detail. (See My Invention Requirements for the RBT, below.)
21. The RBT can make use of one or multiple arms, although two arms are most practical and enough challenge in themselves.
22. One arm can be turned on by itself and set to different modes, or, both arms or more can be set to their individual modes. This is especially helpful if the customer wants to practice on blocking reflexes using just one arm. They can stand in front of the arm as the arm randomly punches to not only quicken their reaction time, but also practice their technique in what block works fastest and best. Having both arms on at the same speed or one arm punching more frequent offers customization of use to the customer.
23. No other device is as practical as the RBT. Other devices prove to show many flaws in their design, whereas the RBT has been proven. It works!

My invention requirements for the RBT:

1. Be light and yet very strong.
2. Be able to punch fast and also return fast anywhere along the punch path. If the punch is blocked or makes a hit during its travel, it has to return fast. If the arm fully extends at any speed, it has to return fast.
3. Be able to punch fast and yet not create high forces to the boxer. All that is required is that head and body protection gear be worn and the felt force is very low. If the punches are only adjusted to head height, then only head gear is required. Same with body.
4. Be able to punch and yet not hurt the boxer’s fist anywhere in the punch arm’s path in the event they meet, whether the punch arms are punching, retracting or in the fully retracted position.
5. Able to move 360 degrees perpendicular to the boxer's facing position to replicate arm deflection. The deflection strength must be strong enough to hold the arm as it adds inch pounds as it extends and yet be weak enough not to add strain to the boxer deflecting the punch arm.
6. After defecting, the punch arm must return quickly back to its punch path and not wobble side/side or up/down for an extending period of time.
7. Be adjustable in height, width, punch length, punch speed and number of punches thrown.
8. Punch arm must be padded on the front so the boxer’s bare fist could not get hurt even when the punch arm is fully retracted in its stationary, firm position.
9. Punch arm must be fully padded on the sides to pad deflection blows from the boxer.
10. The foam must be surrounded in a durable, light weight cover.
11. Must be truly random punch sequences as to keep the boxer always guessing when the next punch is coming and what arm will be punching.
12. Both punch arms cannot fully punch at the same time.
13. Either arm could be taken off their rail and held by a boxing trainer so it could be pointed at a boxing trainee as the trainer points the arm at will in any area of the trainee as to simulate punches to the trainee. This will give the trainee a chance to practice dealing with high speed punches without the detriment of injury a human punch would give traveling at the same speed. The trainer could use the random mode punches or easily attach a push button manual mode so the trainer can determine when the punch arm will punch.
14. Be reasonable in price as to appeal to the general public involved with such a sport.
15. Be durable and not so complex as to have a high repair rate.
16. Offer various modes to operation to either arm independently. This is helpful if a customer wanted to only turn on one arm and not box but simply practice their blocking. Or a customer may want to have more punches thrown from one arm and not the other.
17. Allow the customer to use what punching device they want to use, such as a double-end bag, heavy bag, free standing heavy bag, boxing dummy, etc. Since the entire arm setup is adjustable, all could be accommodated, just as long as the customer realizes, the wider the punching device, the more the arms have to angle to reach the customer which could make the RBT arms only punch at an angle.
18. By having the customer use their own punching device, it is up to their comfort level where to place their device in relationship between the RBT arms. For realism, it is best to place the device so that an outstretched jab from the customer touching their punching device allows the RBT arms to reach them also, so that if you are in the range to be the hitter, you are also in the range to be the “hittee”.
19. Be able to throw slow punches and also punches that are so fast, it is doubtful anyone can punch that fast for that distance from start to stop. The punch speeds and distance time of the RBT were compared to real data from average to pro boxer’s punches to be able to say the RBT will put any boxer to a challenge. Since the normal reaction time of your average human is 2 tenths of a second (again, average, since that varies with age and gender), it has been shown that reaction times can increase with practice. The RBT can reach such speeds as to give the boxer much less than a tenth of a second to react, and yet be merciful enough at the lower settings to give reaction times more realistic to the average user.
20. Be fun.