In 1991, Life Fitness produced its treadmill, the 9500HR which introduced the first integrated LCD touch screen console and attachable LCD screen on a treadmill. The equipment has remained largely unchanged since this time.
Inspired by the Rampion wind turbines off the Sussex coast, we set out to create exercise machines that could capture the energy from a workout and send this clean, green energy to the grid.
The machines will not only offer users the predicable running, cycling and rowing opportunity. The equipment will focus on the technology already available in homes via a smart metre and solar panels, to repurpose and transform gym equipment and its manufacture. This fusion of smart technology, renewable energy and manufacturing will make other gym equipment seem Stone Age.
Imagine a fitness machine that will link to your home smart meter and reduce your bill? Or a gym where the clean energy you generate from your workout can be donated to a fuel poverty charity, such as National Energy Action. Around 4 million UK households are in fuel poverty, unable to afford to live in a warm, dry home.
With the help of Professor Childs, Professorial Lead in Engineering Design and the founding Head of the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London, we set out in 2019 to prove that human-powered fitness equipment could not only capture energy but incentivise your workout and be truly innovative. Professor Childs has been crucial to designing efficient equipment that can be net carbon neutral.
