Methods and apparatus for balance support systems

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a plate configured to support a user standing on the plate;

a plurality of fluid chambers, each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers configured to support at least a portion of the plate; and

an electronic assembly in communication with at least one sensor, the electronic assembly configured to (1) receive a signal from the at least one sensor indicative of at least one of a pressure or a fill volume of each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers and (2) determine a tilt angle of the plate relative to a reference plane based on the at least one of the pressure or the fill volume of each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers, the electronic assembly configured to define a current coordinate along a plane based on the tilt angle of the plate relative to the reference plane and to send a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent data associated with the current coordinate on a display of an electronic device,

in response to the current coordinate satisfying a criterion, the electronic assembly configured to send a signal operable to change the fill volume within at least one fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers is a pneumatic spring.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:

a control system including the at least one sensor, the control system is in electronic communication with the electronic assembly, the control system including a compressor in fluid communication with each fluid chamber from the plurality of the fluid chambers, the compressor configured to provide a flow of a compressed gas to at least one fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers in response to a signal received from the electronic assembly.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the electronic assembly is configured to send a signal to the control system indicative of an instruction to perform at least one of a disconnecting of at least one fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers, a measuring of a fluid pressure in at least one fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers, or a changing of a fluid pressure in at least one fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the current coordinate satisfies the criterion when a difference between the current coordinate and a predetermined coordinate along the plane is within a predetermined threshold.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fluid chambers includes four fluid chambers.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the pressure or the fill volume of each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers is based at least in part on a force exerted by the user standing on the plate.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes at least a first sensor and a second sensor, the first sensor is configured to sense at least one of a pressure or a fill volume of at least one fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers, the second sensor is configured to sense at least one of an orientation of the plate relative to the reference plane, a velocity associated with a change in orientation of the plate relative to the reference plane, or an acceleration associated with a change in orientation of the plate relative to the reference plane.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is a first electronic device, the electronic assembly is in communication with at least the first electronic device and a second electronic device separate from the electronic assembly.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the second electronic device is a functional electrical stimulator donned by the user standing on the plate, an operating condition of the functional electrical stimulator being based at least in part on one or more signals received from the electronic assembly.

11. A method of using a balance support device having a plate, a plurality of fluid chambers configured to support the plate, and an electronic assembly including at least a processor, comprising:

defining, at the processor, a predetermined coordinate along a plane, the predetermined coordinate based on a predetermined tilt angle of the plate relative to a reference plane;

sending, from the processor and to a display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent data associated with the plane and the predetermined coordinate along the plane on the display;

receiving, at the processor and from a sensor, a signal indicative of at least one of a pressure or a fill volume within each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers, the at least one of the pressure or the fill volume within each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers based at least in part on a force exerted by a user standing on the plate;

defining, at the processor, a current tilt angle of the plate relative to the reference plane based on the at least one of the pressure or the fill volume within each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers;

defining, at the processor, a coordinate along the plane based on the current tilt angle of the plate; and

sending, from the processor to the display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent data associated with the coordinate and the data associated with the predetermined coordinate on the display.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the balance support device includes a control system,

the processor configured to send a signal to the control system indicative of an instruction to change a fill volume within at least one fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers to move the plate relative to the reference plane.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the coordinate along the plane substantially corresponds to a graphically represented position on the display.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

sending, from the processor to the display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent an indication on the display when a difference between the coordinate and the predetermined coordinate is within a predetermined threshold.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined coordinate is a first predetermined coordinate and the predetermined tilt angle is a first predetermined tilt angle, the method further comprising:

sending, from the processor to the display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent an indication on the display when a difference between the coordinate and the first predetermined coordinate is within a predetermined threshold; and

defining, at the processor, a second predetermined coordinate along the plane based on a second predetermined tilt angle, the second predetermined coordinate being different from the first predetermined coordinate and the second predetermined tilt angle being different from the first predetermined tilt angle.

16. A method of using a balance support device having a plate, a plurality of fluid chambers configured to support the plate, and an electronic assembly including at least a processor, comprising:

sending, from the processor and to a display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent data associated with a plane and a first target area along the plane on the display, the first target area having a first size and a first position along the plane;

receiving, at the processor and from a sensor, a signal indicative of at least one of a pressure or a fill volume within each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers, the at least one of the pressure or the fill volume within each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers based at least in part on a force exerted by a user standing on the plate;

defining, at the processor, a current coordinate along the plane, the current coordinate representing a tilt angle of the plate relative to a reference plane, the tilt angle determined based on the at least one of the pressure or the fill volume within each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers;

sending, from the processor to the display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent on the display (1) data associated with the plane and the current coordinate along the plane and (2) an indication when the current coordinate is disposed within the first target area; and

defining, at the processor, a second target area having a second size and a second position along the plane, the second size and the second position being different from the first size and the first position, respectively.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein

the balance support device includes a control system, the control system is in electronic communication with the electronic assembly and fluidic communication with each fluid chamber from the plurality of fluid chambers.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first target area encompasses a first plurality of coordinates along the plane, a difference between each coordinate from the first plurality of coordinates along the plane and a first predetermined coordinate along the plane being within a first predetermined threshold, and

the second target area encompasses a second plurality of coordinates along the plane, a difference between each coordinate from the second plurality of coordinates along the plane and a second predetermined coordinate along the plane being within a second predetermined threshold, the second predetermined threshold being different from the first predetermined threshold.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

sending, from the processor to the display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent data associated with the plane and the second target area along the plane on the display.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

sending, from the processor to the display, a signal indicative of an instruction to graphically represent data associated with the current coordinate and the data associated with the first target area on the display prior to the current coordinate satisfying the criterion.