A buzz when the load is too high: Frankfurt researcher develops smart orthosis insole
A sensor insole, a connected walker and an app: devices developed at Frankfurt UAS warn people with foot problems when they put too much load on their foot.
Symbolic image · Photo: Pagemaker787 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Smart devices are meant to help people with foot injuries or limited foot function in everyday life. Stefan Resch studied this at the Mixed Reality Lab of Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences in his doctoral thesis, carried out jointly with the University of Cádiz in Spain. The university presented the results on Tuesday. The target group includes people who wear an orthosis and people with polyneuropathy in the feet, which can occur in diabetes, for example.
Resch developed an insole for a foot orthosis with force-sensitive sensors, a custom circuit board and a battery, as well as a connected walker with sensors and vibration modules in the handle. If the foot is overloaded, the system responds with a vibration. A smartphone app shows the pressure distribution under the sole as a colour heatmap and keeps a walking diary that records gait data and pain levels. Further studies dealt with mixed reality, for example an avatar that introduces users to the app.
Resch also examined how generative AI can help design orthoses and how such designs are perceived. He said that even the most technically advanced orthosis is of no use if people do not want to wear it, adding that a marketable orthosis is still a long way off. Lab head Diana Völz called his work a major step forward for research on human-technology interaction in personalised medical engineering.