Researchers from Ohio State University and Lanzhou University in China have developed a new smart insole that could revolutionize health monitoring. This device tracks movement using pressure sensors and solar energy, providing real-time insights into posture and potential health issues.
A new smart insole system from Ohio State University and Lanzhou University in China is poised to revolutionize health monitoring by tracking how people walk in real time, potentially offering early warnings for conditions such as plantar fasciitis and Parkinson’s disease.
The innovative system, developed by a team led by Qi Wang, a current doctoral student in materials science and engineering at Ohio State, uses 22 small pressure sensors and is powered by small solar panels on the tops of shoes. This design ensures a high degree of precision and durability, overcoming the limitations seen in previous prototypes.
“Our bodies carry lots of useful information that we’re not even aware of,” co-author Jinghua Li, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Ohio State, said in a news release. “These statuses also change over time, so it’s our goal to use electronics to extract and decode those signals to encourage better self health care checks.”
In the United States, around 7% of the population experiences ambulatory difficulties, impacting activities like walking, running or climbing stairs. The new smart insoles could play a crucial role in alleviating some of these issues by providing real-time health monitoring and posture improvement.
“Our device is innovative in terms of high resolution, spatial sensing, self-powering capability, and its ability to combine with machine learning algorithms,” Li added. “So we feel like this research can go further based on the pioneering successes of this field.”
Published in the journal Science Advances, the study highlights the integration of advanced machine learning models that allow the wearable to recognize eight different motion states. This ranges from static positions like sitting and standing to dynamic movements such as running and squatting.
Moreover, the flexibility and safety of the materials used in the insoles make them suitable for continuous use, much like a smartwatch. The solar cells convert sunlight into energy, which is stored in tiny lithium batteries that don’t harm the user or interrupt daily activities.
The researchers discovered specific pressure patterns unique to different activities. For example, during walking, pressure is applied sequentially from heel to toe, while running places simultaneous pressure on almost all sensors.
In the health care sector, these smart insoles could support gait analysis to detect early abnormalities related to conditions such as diabetic foot ulcers, musculoskeletal disorders and neurological diseases. The system’s ability to use machine learning for motion classification offers opportunities for personalized health management, real-time posture correction, injury prevention and rehabilitation monitoring.
The insole’s long-term durability is another significant achievement, maintaining performance after 180,000 cycles of compression and decompression.
“The interface is flexible and quite thin, so even during repetitive deformation, it can remain functional,” added Li. “The combination of the software and hardware means it isn’t as limited.”
Looking ahead, the team expects the technology to be commercially available within the next 3-5 years. Future advances will focus on enhancing the system’s gesture recognition capabilities, which will involve further testing on diverse populations.
“We have so many variations among individuals, so demonstrating and training these fantastic capabilities on different populations is something we need to give further attention to,” concluded Li.
Source: The Ohio State University