FreeWalker is an electronic wearable that is embedded into the shoes or insoles of the user. [Photo credit: SeSaMe Center]
FreeWalker is an electronic wearable that is embedded into the shoes or insoles of the user, developed by the SeSaMe Center at National University of Singapore (NUS).
The device can be used by the everyday user, in healthcare and lifestyle applications such as exercise, fitness and gaming.
FreeWalker can also be used in medical applications that require monitoring gait patterns and movement parameters. For instance, people in rehabilitation centers that are recovering from injury, people with movement disorders who seek accurate diagnosis and want to monitor disease progression. Nursing homes can also use the device to detect falls and report user location.
The technology used by FreeWalker senses a variety of movement parameters and foot pressure distribution during the user’s movements. Pressure sensors, movement sensor, and wireless technologies have been integrated together in a miniaturized form, while data collected is sent to a portable device. To ensure ease of usability, the system is designed with ultra-low power techniques for long battery life.
FreeWalker was developed by a team of researchers, led by Dr Zhi Yang, then a Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and an associate faculty member at the SeSaMe center. It was funded by the National Research Foundation and carried out in the SeSaMe Center.
