STTR Phase I: SmartRun Monitor for Gait and Form Analytics

该STTR第一阶段项目将扩大规模并表征一种新的压力传感器技术，该技术有可能创造一种负担得起的、可访问的鞋内衬，该鞋内衬可以在真实的时间和真实的世界中准确地测量每个人的步态（跑步或步行形式）。步态分析用于各种各样的设置。然而，使用步态分析来防止受伤、提高移动性和改善患者的生活受到了阻碍，因为它被限制在医疗设施内使用。所提出的新型传感器系统具有收集关于步伐和步态/脚撞击的客观数据的能力，以给出一个人在实验室环境之外如何实际移动的清晰画面。该设备将提供更好的训练数据，以训练运动员的形式，以防止每年困扰3200万美国长跑运动员的跑步伤害;持续监测和预测65岁以上美国人的步态和平衡问题，其中约有1150万人每年摔倒，导致230万人严重受伤;以及临床医生可以将其与糖尿病足溃疡的发作相关联的力数据，糖尿病足溃疡每年发生在180万慢性糖尿病患者中。该STTR第一阶段项目旨在开发步态监测器，该监测器结合了一种新颖、低成本、强大且适应性强的压力传感技术，可以通过加速度计和电子设备检测法向力和剪切力，以处理和分析这些数据。与现有的商业触觉传感器不同，该技术由用于信号传输的可拉伸电极和具有用于剪切和法向应力测量的压阻性的基于离子液体的聚合物复合材料组成。虽然所提出的传感器已经小批量制造并在实验室环境中进行了测试，但必须在进行更接近步态分析产品要求的测试的同时探索材料配方和传感器配置。STTR第一阶段项目的主要目标是研究一系列材料配方对法向力和剪切力测量的影响，探索传感器配置如何影响法向力和剪切力测量，重点关注信号处理和传感器灵敏度的复杂性，并证明建议的剪切传感器适用于鞋内衬应用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得的通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来提供支持。

This STTR Phase I project will scale up and characterize a new pressure sensor technology that has the potential to create an affordable, accessible shoe insert that accurately measures, stride-for-stride, an individual's gait (running or walking form) in real time and in the real world. Gait analysis is used in a wide variety of settings. However, the use of gait analysis to prevent injury, improve mobility and improve patients' lives has been hampered because it is constrained to use within medical facilities. The proposed novel sensor system has the ability to collect objective data on both pace and gait/foot strike to give a clear picture of how a person actually moves outside of a laboratory setting. The device would enable better coaching data to train athlete form to prevent running injuries which afflict 32 million U.S. distance runners each year; ongoing monitoring and prediction of gait and balance issues in Americans over age 65, about 11.5 million of whom fall each year leading to 2.3 million serious injuries; and force data which clinicians can correlate to the onset of diabetic foot ulcers, which occur in 1.8 million chronic diabetic patients each year. This STTR Phase I project seeks to develop gait monitor that combines a novel, low-cost, robust and conformable pressure sensing technology that can detect both normal and shear forces with an accelerometer and electronics to process and analyze this data. Unlike existing commercial tactile sensors, the technology consists of stretchable electrodes for signal transmission and ionic liquid-based polymeric composite having piezoresistivity for shear and normal stress measurements. While the proposed sensor has been fabricated in small quantities and tested in laboratory settings, exploration of material formulations and sensor configurations must be undertaken alongside testing that more closely approximates gait analysis product requirements. Key goals under the STTR Phase I project are to investigate the impact of a range of material formulations on normal and shear force measurements, explore how sensor configurations affect normal and shear force measurements with a focus on the complexity of signal processing and sensor sensitivity, and prove the suggested shear sensors are suitable for shoe insert applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.