Smart Insole: A Wireless Gait Monitoring and Pressure Distribution Device

A wireless gait monitoring and pressure distributing device was successfully fabricated using copper sheet which was attached to a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film using an adhesive. The fabricated device consisted of sixteen force sensitive resistors (FSR), three ESP32 microcontrollers. Calendering was performed to remove the wrinkles and air trapped in the copper traces to ensure good conductivity followed by lamination of the insole to avoid damage to FSRs, copper and preventing it from oxidizing. Smart insole was responsible for generating pressure and gait data on a computer application and provide the user feedback regarding the pressure applied on their foot. The performance of the device was investigated by measuring the force on each FSR using force gauge between 0 to 150 N of force with 10 N intervals in between the force. It was observed that the device demonstrated swift performance when and promptly sent data to the application while the subject was performing different strides such as heel strike, flat foot, mid stance, push off and, toe off.