Development of a Wearable Device for Analyzing Plantar Load in the Human Gait Cycle

This work describes the development of a wearable device for measuring plantar load during the execution of the human gait cycle. The device is integrated by 24 force sensitive resistors distributed along an insole manufactured with the polymer EcoflexTM 00-30 from Smooth-On. The insole was fabricated using a mold where the polymer was poured and then solidified after drying. This process generates a soft surface to create a shoe pad. The electronic instrumentation of the device considers an Arduino Nano coupled with a set of analog multiplexers model CD4051BE used to acquire the 24 signals with a sampling frequency of 75 Hz. Then, wireless communication based on XBee devices was used to transmit the collected data to a graphical user interface in a personal computer; designed to acquire, display, and store the plantar load measures. Finally, a test with healthy volunteers was conducted to validate the measurements obtained with the device.