Name of exercise machine (?) with three concentric rings and a person strapped into the middle spinning in all directions?
Name of exercise machine (?) with three concentric rings and a person strapped into the middle spinning in all directions?
Following on from https://alex.lemmy.ca/lemmy.ca/comment/16014727
In almost every scifi-action movie of the 90s, there appears an exercise machine (?) with three concentric rings, and you strap into the middle and spin around in all directions. IIRC the outside ring is immobile and upright, while the inner two move on different axes, so the user can spin any which way.
Universal Soldier, Fortress, Drive and a bunch more had it, but I don't have screenshots.
So I've posted my terrible attempt at drawing what I mean. (Either that or the logo for my new political movement.)
Anyone know what it's called?
And whatever happened to it? It's the future now, why aren't we all spinning around in every direction, in between sessions on our hoverboards and flying cars?
EDIT:
Thanks, everyone. Turns out it's called an aerotrim.
So far, seen in the following 90s scifi movies:
- Contact
- Drive
- Fortress
- Gattaca
- The Lawnmower Man
- Universal Soldier
This sounds like what you're after :)
Yes! Thanks!
Wikipedia even mentions yet another 90s scifi movie I saw it in recently that I forgot had one (e.g. Lawnmower Man).
They used one in Star Trek Enterprise as well.
Great movie.
Lol these things are so goofy
Because it makes most disoriented and, at worst, sick. I’ve been in one, I don’t have problems with boat sickness or motion sickness and this made me completely lose any sense of my place in reality while spinning. Just awful.
Yeah, I assumed it could awfully disorienting.
this made me completely lose any sense of my place in reality
This is precisely why they used to (and still are sometimes, although not as often) be used for pilot and astronaut training. All the astronauts who went through the early Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions trained on one.
Looks like it's called an Aerotrim. I've actually been in one of those, it's pretty cool. Just for fun though, not as training. So I didn't control any of the movements.
I think they used one in Gattaca, which makes sense since they were training to be astronauts.
Of course!
Wikipedia says they were used for training astronauts but:
- they weren't invented for that, actually developed for people with spinal injuries
- they depend on gravity, so can be used in training on earth, but not in space itself
I've added Gattaca to the list of films now in my OP.
Do you mean a gyroscope?
That looks right. Seems the original name is Aerotrim, but maybe that's trademarked so I guess other companies use names like gyroscope.
Man those things used to be everywhere at events
doesn't look like exercise to me
Saw a couple of these at an event I went to years ago. The people who tried it were saying that it's an exhausting arm, leg, and core workout after just a few minutes.
Yup, I did this at some fair. you shift your weight to move into different directions. Mostly a core workout, or at least a requirement that you can push your hips into different directions. Not sure it's an exercise thing or just requires you to have some core strength to manipulate it correctly.
I always remember these at the carnival, and the point was to get strapped in until you hurl.
Pretty sure that was first implemented as a training thing for either fighter pilots or astronauts to learn to deal with disorienting movements.
It has since become a form or entertainment at carnivals and the like.
A similar machine also plays a role in the 1997 movie Contact.
And underrated genre classic Lawnmower Man
So far, the 90s scifi movies with an aerotrim we've got so far:
- Contact
- Drive
- Fortress
- Gattaca
- Lawnmower Man
- Universal Soldier