Smart Footwear with Embedded Wireless Sensors for Healthcare Applications

This project aims to develop smart footwear to monitor foot loading and gait complications. We will explore several micro/nanomanufacturing techniques to develop pressure/force sensors and integrate them into common footwear products. Such smart footwears and related plantar pressure/force mapping can have direct implications for applications as diverse as gait analysis, performance analysis for sports personnel and for clinically significant applications such as detection and management of diabetic foot ulcers. This involves conceiving miniature wearable pressure/force sensors to address global health challenges, such as the staggering financial and clinical burden of diabetic wound care and amputation. We will exploit high-resolution 3D printing to overcome the prototyping challenges to realise such sensors and integrate them on common footwear products in a cost-effective manner. Finite element modelling of footwear loading and machine learning techniques will support the material selection, sensor placement and the design of embedded electronics for wireless sensing. The sensor data may also be exploited to inform healthcare engineering and clinical decisions, and could also enable real-time feedback training systems (e.g. using a smartphone based wireless monitoring system). The technology developed here could enable early and timely intervention to correct the biomechanical abnormalities underlying typical injuries and diagnosis of diabetic foot ulcers.