Proposal of Easily Distributable Insole Type Gait Sensor for Health Promotion of Elderly People

In this research, for the purpose of reducing cost and increasing penetration rate, insole type gait sensor has been proposed. The proposed method needs to be manufactured inexpensively in order to collect daily life gait information. Therefore, the minimum number of sensors required for gait analysis of this research is clarified. The suitable number of e-textile sensors and contact position of the gait sensor for gait analysis are obtained experimentally. Although the proposed method does not require as much accuracy as a floor reaction force meter in the laboratory, validity is evaluated by comparing with acquired gait data and a floor reaction force gauge. For the validity of gait analysis, this research revealed that two sensor locations are required, only the toe and the heel, and that each sensor should group several contacts.