In 1911, Claude Lauraine Hagen patented a 'training-machine' in the USA featuring a treadmill belt. It wasn't until 1952, however, that the first motorised treadmill was invented by Dr Robert A Bruce (an expert in Exercise Cardiology) as a diagnostic tool. The home treadmill as we know it today was created in the late 1960s by William Staub, a mechanical engineer. The basic technology has changed little since then.