Data Science Day @ Columbia University

The SoleSound is a fully portable wearable system that consists of a pair of smart footwear units capable of measuring an individual’s gait characteristics and providing audio-tactile feedback to the wearer. A separate hip pack unit contains a single-board computer which stores the sensor data collected from the footwear units and processes that information in real time to synthesize feedback corresponding to the wearer’s movements.     Underfoot pressures are recorded by each footwear unit via four pressure sensors mounted below the insole. Kinematic data (orientation and linear acceleration) is collected from IMU units located within each footwear and on the user’s shanks. In addition, a side mounted ultrasonic sensor is used to estimate base of walking. Feedback is provided via five vibro-tactile transducers mounted in areas of the sole where density of mechanoreceptors is highest. Practical applications include diagnostic gait analysis for fall prevention and virtual reality simulation.