Background. Tactile interfaces that stimulate the plantar surface with vibrations could represent a step forward toward the development of wearable, inconspicuous, unobtrusive, and inexpensive assistive devices for people with visual impairments. Objective. To study how people understand information through their feet and to maximize the capabilities of tactile-foot perception for assisting hum...

This study aims to develop a numerical method that can be used to investigate the cushioning properties of different insole materials on a subject-specific basis. Diabetic footwear and orthotic insoles play an important role for the reduction of plantar pressure in people with diabetes (type-2). Despite that, little information exists about their optimum cushioning properties. A new in-vivo mea...

Foot sole temperature, besides its importance in thermal comfort, can be considered an important factor identifying tissue injuries due to heavy activities or diseases. Hyperthermia, which is a raise the foot increases risk of diabetic ulcers considerably. In this study, model proposed predict temperature with acceptable accuracy. This for first time considers both and mechanical properties sho...

This study evaluated the feasibility of using insole pressure sensors together with whole body dynamics to analyse joint kinetics while running. Local affine transformations of shoe kinematics were first used to track the position of insole sensors during locomotion. Centre of pressure estimates derived from the insoles were within 10 mm of forceplate measures through much of stance, while vert...

Leprosy is predominantly a disease of peripheral nerves and it particularly affects the nerves supplying the eyes, hands and feet, leading to irreversible impairments, if not treated early. Impairments in the foot include sensory loss, motor weakness of the anterior and/or lateral compartment of the leg and intrinsic muscles of the foot and dryness in the sole of the foot due to the involvement...

This study aims to design a wearable system for kinetics measurement of multi-segment foot joints in long-distance walking and to investigate its suitability for clinical evaluations. The wearable system consisted of inertial sensors (3D gyroscopes and 3D accelerometers) on toes, forefoot, hindfoot, and shank, and a plantar pressure insole. After calibration in a laboratory, 10 healthy elderly ...

Advances in robotics are part of reducing the burden associated with manufacturing tasks workers. For example, cobot could be used as a “third-arm” during assembling task. Thus, necessity designing new intuitive control modalities arises. This paper presents foot gesture approach centered on robot constraints to switch between four operating modalities. scheme is based raw data acquired by an i...