100 bucks and i could build one your over estimating the complexity of the machine. all you need to consider is frequency and amplitutde both of which can be achieved with a basic knoweldge but thats not the point because you can achieve the same results with cheaper vibrational units. do an online search and find a a system with the desired amplitude and freq. or variable. the principle is very simple the thing is they have cornered the market thats why the charge so fucking much. they dont want people to think and realize hey i can achieve the same thing with this device thats not even intended for athletic use.
I need to get started on Bosco’s papers … if anyone has them to hand and can email them - I’d appreciate it greatly …
It depends on how clean a vibrational spectrum that you want. If you want harmonics and miss-matched phase issues all over the place, then your method will work poorly. This is a classic example of a case where feedforward control (no sensor) will not work well.
Regardless, in any case you would need a feedback system with a good sensor. These can be expensive especially considering the sensitivity needed, last time i checked these cost around 100+ a piece. (That was a month ago). In addition you need a nicely behaved actuator. Friction, backlash and deadband wreak hell on a vibrational system. A friend of mine had some serious robustness issues in a vibrational system control because of these issues. After about a few month of opperation on his test rib, the wear in the ball bearings added some harmonics in the system at bad places. (His research is in haptics, so precision is a big issue). Vibration control is a bit more complicated than most people think, especially if a clean vibration spectrum is needed (which it appears to be in this case). If anyone is interested in this, i would be glad to talk more about it.
we disagree but you raise valid points
Its not really that simple. If your washing machine is kicking out frequencies that resonate your internal organs then get ready for some internal bleeding.
Half and half but it was more a reminder for me to mention the importance of the safe frequency range needed.
Yes you are right. In fact it has been documented that people have injured themselves seriously by using home built vibration platforms. Its not something I would recommend for people to mess around with without knowing their engineering. Frequencies lower than 25 HZ can affect internal organs.
You don’t think I was serious do you?
If anyone is interested about the bad vibrational effects there is a book by Griffin called “human vibration”. It is a bit old, but it a good primer on this stuff. The 25 hz mark is pretty well agreed upon, lower than that (even at very low ampitudes) can cause some severe problems.
I might be tempted to try to make one, if only for the fun in engineering it, but i am probably going to wait until my own research is done. 
you tempted to build a device that causes organ damage in humans… you wouldnt by chance be interested in world domination too would you. jk 
No, not really. The problem is that you have to deal with people to do something like that. If i wanted to deal with people/hose them i wouldn’t be an engineer, i would be a manager or a lawyer.
Seriously, i love playing with control systems. That is why i am doing the research i am now. Besides, it won’t cause organ damage unless i screwed up.
You could build the control around a microchip PIC I reckon. I might take pics of the vibration platform for you so that you can save time on R&D. I got a lot of work on so be patient with me. I had a session today on the platform. It induced alot of fatigue and yawning. I had to sleep for 3 hours during the afternoon.
Pictures would be awesome. There isn’t any rush though. It is always nice to see good engineering. PICs are usually pretty good for this kind of thing (although there are other microprocs outthere). Finding a good actuator will probably be the hardest part though.
If this is true why did Bosco spend a year (or was it two) testing the output of the inpulse from the Nemes when they decided to do a second model. All they did was try and make it smaller. They downsized the platform and took the weight from 80Kg down to 30-40Kg yet the engineering required to do this was extensive. Of course I can’t change your mind but unless you have worked in product design it is hard to understand just how complicated it is to bring a product to market and how the final cost of the product must be reflect the development costs. This is even more true in a field where you can’t take advantage of economies of scale. In all reality I could easily buy a few components and try and build my own Muscle Lab. It isn’t that difficult to do if you are an engineer and the software is pretty simple but it would take me about a year to do it and the cost to me in lost earnings during that time would make this the most expensie muscle lab ever built.
Actually it is below 20 HZ for the record but you are right it is dangerous - see any ergonomics text book for the problems with vibration.
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Spinal column disease and complaints: These are perhaps the most common diseases associated with the long-term exposure to whole-body vibration, where the back is especially sensitive to the 4-12 Hz vibration range.
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Digestive system diseases: Often observed in persons exposed to whole-body vibration over a long period of time. Associated with the resonance movement of the stomach at frequencies between 4 and 5 Hz.
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Cardiovascular system effects: Prolonged exposure to whole-body vibration at frequencies below 20 Hz results in hyperventilation, increased heart rate, oxygen intake, pulmonary ventilation and respiratory rate.Those are about right for the frequencies, although there is some variation for the person in question (and the reference in question). 25Hz is pretty bad for hand tools as well.
A couple of information about vibration training gathered through private conversations with quite reliable “insiders” in quite reliable sport science labs in Europe:
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A well known researcher and author from former USSR when asked about the topic highligted how quite extensive but very inconclusive had beeb researches on vibration training by the Soviet themselves.
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AC Milan football club got rid of 15+ vibration platforms after a single season of use,after recording the highest injury rate in years.
Of course at the end of the day it all gets down to the way one tool is used and the context of usage.
We’ve gotten a bit off topic but that’s ok I like it when a discussion takes on a life of it own. anyway I think a largely overlooked aspect of training is the rate at which muscles relax. a lot of focus is on how the muscle generates force but it is just as important, especially in cyclic movements, how rapidly force can be dissipated in a antagonist muscle. vibration elicits the stretch reflex but also recruits inhibitory inter-neurons effectively inhibiting antagonist muscles. this may help reinforce proper ballistic motor patterns. also I think their could be a benefit with alternating vibration rapidly between agonist and antagonist muscles.
Hmm its like EMS, some say its useless but others say its useful. Of course if you get an athlete in the future who claims that they used a vibration platform to help them run 9.9 secs or faster I am sure that many would take heed. Its very much like EMS, until CF mentioned it as a training tool, no one would have even considered it as useful . It would have been seen as some kind of gimmick…
The football example is interesting…hmmm. Did they change a significant amount of their training to accommodate the WBVs? Was this the only change to their training?