Human-Powered Centrifuges and Stationary Exercise Stations

Human-powered machines that can be operated as centrifuges or as stationary exercise stations have been invented. These machines are suitable for a variety of terrestrial and outer-space applications that involve physical therapy, maintenance of physical fitness, centrifugal simulation of gravitation or acceleration, and/or measurement of physiological responses to exercise and centrifugation. A machine of this type can be operated in any of several selectable modes, in which one or more human participant(s) can be active or passive and in which the speed of rotation (and thus the centripetal acceleration), the human-generated torque, or the human-generated power can be regulated. Although the basic concept of human-powered centrifuges for such applications is not new, older designs for machines of this type do not provide for such a variety of operating modes.