ABSTRACT

For those with lower-limb disabilities, lower-limb exoskeletons provide benefits during rehabilitation and daily locomotive assistance by providing mechanical support and reducing the load on their legs. Passive systems use counterweights and springs to redistribute weight while active systems utilize robotic actuators to assist in automated locomotion. Active exoskeletons often divide the entire gait cycle into discrete phases for control system design, therefore accurate gait phase detection is necessary. Current methods of gait phase detection are costly and available only in specific laboratories. Shoe insoles with embedded force sensors provide a solution to this issue by enabling gait phase detection at a lower cost and within a compact system.

The purpose of this project is to develop a smart shoe insole insert utilizing force sensing resistors to detect and communicate the gait phases in real-time for active lower-limb exoskeletons. Using FSRs embedded in the user’s insoles and wireless-enabled microcontrollers, the force distribution under each foot during locomotion is determined and communicated to a personal computer. The center of pressure of each foot is calculated and mapped along the shoe insole, based on which the gait phases will be determined.